Himitsu: The Secret
by Marie Darkholme
Summary: Being protected was never Tatsuki's wish. And now she has the chance to protect. While Ichigo and the others are in Hueco Mundo searching for Orihime, Tatsuki receives a visit from Ulquiorra Shiffer. What does he want with her? IchiTatsu
1. The Dragon Falls

Himitsu

By

Marie Darkholme

**Chapter One:** The Dragon Falls

Life had indeed become complicated. Well, that was probably a lie. Life hadn't suddenly become complicated just because of what happened. It was already complicated to start with. What happened had its effects of course.

Even so, life had stayed pretty much the same as before, for me… for Keigo and Mizuiro. Apparently nothing had changed. Sometimes it even felt like one of those weird dreams where you're not sure if you're asleep or awake or maybe something Orihime would come up with. But then, I would go to classes and those same four seats would be empty over and over again. Keigo and Mizuiro would exchange complicit looks with each other; Chizuru's inquiring eyes would be searching for an answer to Orihime's sudden absence from school. And in those moments, I knew I wasn't dreaming.

"Fuck!" I tried for the third time in a row to tie up the bandages in my hands correctly. This is what I get from being absentminded again. Lately it was more the rule than the exception. Things were still kind of foggy in my head. There was no doubt in my mind that what we had been told that night was true. How could there be, having seen those things with my own eyes, having felt their presence tearing my soul apart? No, it wasn't the doubt of their existence that clouded my thoughts. Although I had to admit it was a lot do digest, the information had just corrected and completed some of my assumptions. My eyes had been opened to that world a long time ago… even though some had tried hard to conceal it from me.

No. The thoughts in my head rested elsewhere in a place where I didn't like to go. That place where I was told how weak I really am, how even the best of my efforts would make no difference; the place where I was told loud and clear how I had failed to keep my promises and protect my friends.

The guy with green striped hat called Urahara had explained to us that even though we have no powers, we still had some spiritual energy, reason why we could see those monsters called hollows. That was also the reason why I had survived the attack by those two higher ranked Hollows called Arrancar and because of that spiritual pressure within us, he had said, we were potential victims for Hollows' attacks.

_" You don't have to worry about it much since we are making arrangements to protect the city. In the meanwhile I suggest you three to follow one rule if you ever encounter a Hollow: don't try to face them by yourselves. You'll die..Take this and use it in case of emergency."_

That's what he had said while handing us a sort of pager. Something inside me had twitched uncomfortably at the words _run away_. _Arisawa Tatsuki doesn't run away_, something inside me had screamed.

We were sent back home like little children who had stayed out past their curfew.

I hated that.

But wasn't it kind of true? We are like little children in need of protection. Unable to defend ourselves.

Of course I didn't give in just then. The next day, for the first time ever, I skipped karate on my own free will.

At daylight I realized just how pitiful that place really was. Urahara's shop really was decaying. At least on the outside. Two weird kids I didn't remember seeing before were cleaning up the floor. Not that it really made any change.

"Hey, Ururu, isn't that one of Ichigo's friends?" the boy with red hair poked the dark haired girl with the broom stick.

"We better get Tessai-san." The girl replied timidly eyeing me with her soft puppy eyes.

"No need to, my children. Arisawa-san is here to speak with me, am I right?"

Urahara was wearing the same set of clothes he had used the day before with that goofy hat covering his eyes. I think he does it on purpose so people can't look into his eyes.

I nodded in reply and followed him inside when he motioned me to get in. I could feel the kids' eyes on my back as I entered. Urahara led me to a small room where he sat finishing a cup of tea. It looked as if he knew I was coming. That wasn't a surprise.

"Well now, ask away." He told me as he took a small sip of his tea.

Again I wasn't surprised. This man might look like a total fool, but I could tell it was just his façade. In his presence I always felt something strong and calculated.

"I…hmm…" I tried to calm myself down by taking a deep breath. It was not like me to be nervous. He wouldn't kill me just for asking, so what was that annoying feeling? "Let me get to the point. I get why I can't just follow Ichigo and help him get Orihime back..."My hands twitched. I hesitated. "...but you can't expect me to just run away from my own fights. It's simply not in my personality to do it." Urahara remained silent, his eyes covered by his striped hat. "What I'm trying to ask here is if there is anything you can do to help me get strong enough to at least stand by myself?"

A smile appeared on his lips. "I should have known that Arisawa-san wouldn't just accept staying out of the fight." I looked at my knuckles. "You do have the potential to eventually develop powers like Orihime and Sado or even become a Shinigami." _I do?_ I was indeed surprised by those words. Still, the conversation led me to believe there was a but somewhere.

"Unfortunately, the time required for me to train you is not at my disposal. The enemy is very strong. Much stronger than the level Ichigo is right now, I dare to say. And those are the type of enemies you would have to face. For you to acquire the needed strength to even have a chance against them…we just don't have time for it right now."

Oh, there it was. All that bashing was just leading to this. A no. I guess I had known all along what the answer would be, reason why I had that nagging feeling. I was scared of being right.

I don't remember very well what happened after that, but it doesn't really matter. The answer was clear. You're too weak and I don't have time to deal with you right now.

"Arisawa, are you coming or what?"

"Yeah, yeah, chill!" I finally managed to tie the damn bandages right. Tying the belt around my waist, I looked at myself in the mirror. When had I become that pathetic figure that was looking back at me?

The team was already doing warm-up exercises when I arrived and I got a scolding look from the sensei. Not that I really cared. I started by running around the dojo a bit and then proceeded in stretching my legs and arms, rotating my joints and making sure every part of my body was well warmed-up and ready to fight. We would probably be training combat again, seeing as there was an important competition coming up. Strangely as it might seem, I really didn't cared. I could be the best in the world and still I would be no match for none of those monters who took Orihime away. Darn it, even the weaker one would probably kill me with ease.

I punched the sandbag. The guy holding it jerked backwards with the impact. Man was I pissed. It had been five days since Ichigo was gone and still that anger seemed resolved in staying around. I felt like rippind the bag apart or maybe break something like punching the wall until it gave in.

I didn't exactly know why I was so angry. It could have been because of all the lying, deceiving and cover-up done by both Orihime and Ichigo or by the refusal of Urahara to help me. But somehow, I felt like that wasn't the true reason. I knew long before I confronted Ichigo that both he and my best female friend were literally lying to me. And I wasn't actually angry. So why the hell should I be angry now?

A double kick on the sandbag and then a punch. No, I knew the real reason why I was angry. I knew who I was angry with. The mirrors placed around the room had always been useful when I was correcting my position or movements but lately they seemed to show me someone that I couldn't recognize as myself. And it was that person that I really hated. It was that person that made me angry. The person who really pissed me off was no other than the pathetic and weak Arisawa Tatsuki that looked at me all around the dojo.

Sand started to pour out from the sandbag. I sighed and went to get the plastic tape. I had overdone myself again. It was good when you punched the bag with all your strength, but it wasn't that good if you didn't have enough self-control to keep you from literally destroying the bag.

The weak Tatsuki followed me as I entered the girls' lockers' room. I used to be the one to protect, but lately, I had even been protected by the one I had promised to protect. And I was still being protected. It felt strange and out of place. And I didn't like that feeling. In my previous universe I had certainties; things like Chizuru will always try to hit on Orihime, Ichigo will always furrow his brows and I will always protect Orihime. Not the other way around. And still, there I was, discharging my anger on a sandbag while my friends set out to protect the world and save Orihime. And I was rendered useless, left behind, a fallen warrior. But then again, it was time to question myself when had I really been a warrior to begin with.

_You are still the dragon. You have to believe in yourself._ Faithful words that swam in my head coming from somewhere I could not pinpoint. I ignored them like they hadn't been in there in the first place.

When I finished fixing the sandbag, the rest of the group had already started the combats. I loved the adrenalin of sparring; the feeling that a moment of distraught could end up in a lot of pain and damage.

I faced my first adversary. Apart from the sensei there was no one in the room as quick and strong as me. And that's the truth. It had been years since anyone in the dojo had managed to lay a decisive punch on me. And that last person had been Ichigo.

But that was about to change.

We bowed andstood in fighting position. The fight was on. I avoided the first punch with ease and immediately prepared to score a point. He dodged my kick just barely. Unfortunately for him, the second kick hit his stomach. He bent for a split second before he quickly got back into fighting position. I aimed two straight punches and then a circular kick followed by another couple of punches. Done! My opponent was holding his stomach, three of my attacks having gotten through his thin defence.

It was then that it happened. A heavy feeling took over both my mind and body for a second and in the next one I was laying on the floor, clutching a broken nose.

"Oh shit! Are you okay Arisawa-san?"

I was partly aware of something trickling down my nose through my cheek and onto the tatami. But as for the rest I was completely clueless. All I could think about was that sudden weight I had felt over my entire body, better yet, the weight I had felt over my soul. My brain struggled to keep alert but my body didn't comply. Was I shaking? Why the fuck was I shaking? Was I that weak that just the thought of those monsters having returned to finish the job could render me completely paralyzed? So completely defenseless?

The worried voices around me slowly started fading and a buzzing soundfilled my ears. _You're so desperately weak!_ And then lights went out.

When I came to again, I was laying in a bed at the nurse's office. Keigo and Mizuiro were there much to my dismay. Why the hell were they there? Then again, they must have felt it too.

"Looks like she's waking up." Mizuiro said.

"Hey there, Arisawa-san!" Keigo made one of his stupid faces and I felt like punching him just to release some stress. Instead, I tried to seat noticing a few drops of blood staining my kimono.

"Where's the nurse?" I asked still a little out of it. This was annoying. I go down for the first time ever and just my luck, these two dorks had to be here.

"She left for a while. How're you feeling?" Mizuiro asked in a kind voice. My anger smoothed a bit.

"Fine, considering the situation."

"Did you feel it too?" Keigo's expression changed all the sudden and fear was plastered in his eyes. I wondered if my eyes looked like that as well.

"Asano-san! We shouldn't be talking about that here! Someone might come." Mizuiro complained looking around to make sure no one was coming.

"Ah! What's with the cold address again, Mizuiro?" Keigo pouted in a very annoying and utterly ugly way.

"Yeah, I felt it too." I replied, trying to keep the conversation from degrading into Keigo's complaints and low self-esteem issues.

"Think they're coming after us?"

"Probably not. I mean, by the looks of it, they were probably arrancar. They have no business with weaklings like us." There, I had said it. Arrancar wouldn't want anything to do with weaklings like us. I had just admitted in front of a ditz and a dork how helpless I felt. How much lower could I go? I felt like spanking myself. If either of them actually noted my remark, they kept quiet about it.

"Why do you say they were arrancar?" the ditz, also known as Keigo, asked. It was indeed a good question. Apparently I had been able to feel others' spiritual energy for quite some time. And what I sensed _sure feels like the same reiatsu._

"Don't know. Just a hunch." I lied. There was no reason to tell them the truth. "So what're you guys doing here?"

"We got a bit worried when we heard you had fainted in karate practice. That was so unlike you, we thought we ought to check it out." Again. Again I was being thought of as the weak one, the fragile link. Fuck, had I changed that much in the past week or so that these two helpless figures had to worry about me? Then again, we had kind of gotten closer after the all "Ichigo's a shinigami" incident. Still, I couldn't help feeling angry.

"Well, thanks a lot, but I'm fine so you can leave." I swung my feet to the opposite side they were on and took off.

"Are you sure you're okay, Arisawa-san?" Mizuiro had taken over the role of the concerned one in the group. I could feel his eyes burning on my back. I waved my hand dismissively.

"Yeah, I'm just fine. I'm going home, since practise is already over anyway." And with that, I left them staring at my back as I exited the room. Was I fine? Hell no. How could I be? Was I going to admit? Not even if pigs could fly. I would like to keep my own weakness to myself, thank you very much.

In the lockers' room I had someone waiting for me. My little ghost friend had been a common visitor lately. I really hated this part of being spiritually aware and usually I would just ignore the annoying ghosts floating around. But for this girl I had made sort of an exception.

"What're you staring at?" I spat. She had been gazing at me for the last five minutes and it really getting on my nerves.

"Nothing much." She shrugged but still kept staring at me. Damn! That really was annoying.

"You've been staring at me for five minutes without saying anything. Is there something you want?" I slid my foot into my snicker and finished packing my stuff in my backpack.

"Actually, some dude asked me if I could come and get you." she put a lock of her hair behind her semi-transparent ear.

"Huh? A guy? What did he look like?" why the hell would some random guy ask to a ghost girl to get me? That was just plain stupid; unless it was either Mizuiro or Keigo. Who else could it be, really? It's not like there's a lot of people at school who can see ghosts; and only those two know that I can see was just too strange.

"Don't know." She shrugged. I gave her a disbelieving look. "Just some guy that knows you and needs to talk to you."She grabbed my arm and tried to drag me out of the lockers' room. "Chill down, I'm going already." I barely had time to grab my stuff.

We had been walking for a fair ten minutes in utter silence and it was kind of getting into my nerves. However starting some kind of conversation was revealing itself a challenge for my brain.

"Your name's Tatsuki-chan, right?" the ghost girl turned around to face me. I noticed she was smaller than me, probably two or three years younger. She had long flowing black hair and big brown eyes with purple glints in them.

"Yeah! What's yours?"

"Ayumi."

Silence.

"So…why haven't you gone to Heaven, already?" This was definitely not my day. What a sensitive question to make.. Her eyes dropped.

"Don't know. I suppose it's because I have to look after my little sister." Ayumi faced the sky. "She's still alive so I have to do what I can to protect her. Maybe that's the reason why I'm still here."

Poor girl. It must really hurt her being like this. Urahara had explained us the basic stuff so I knew she was supposed to have gone to Soul Society. Apparently it wasn't the Heaven most would expect but it was probably better than this.I patted her on the head. "I'm sure you'll go there soon enough."

She shook her head. "Oh no! I don't mind being here. Although it hurts a bit to see mom, dad and my little sister and not being able to talk to them and tell them I'm alright and they don't need to cry anymore, I rather be here, even in this form, so I can protect my little sister like that." She scratched the back of her head with a goofy smile. "It's not like I'm strong and tough like you but I always do my best."

My heart skipped a beat. Strong and tough like me? How far from the true could you be, Ayumi. I guess my face must have shown some kind of emotion I didn't mean to because the black haired ghost girl stopped to stare at me.

"It's good enough if I do my best, right, Tatsuki-oneechan? It's good enough, right?" she watched me expectantly. I smiled.

"Of course. Doing your best is good enough. No one can ask for more." I replied. Ayumi smiled back at me and continued to guide the way. Ah, what a lie. _Is it really such a lie?_ That voice said once more. But of course it was. Doing your best sometimes isn't even near good enough. Sometimes, even if you surpass yourself it still isn't good enough. I had been trying to convince myself that it was, but it just wasn't. Sometimes being just you simply couldn't get the job done.

With all the thinking and rambling around, I had completely forgotten we were supposed to be meeting someone. I was still unsure if it was okay for me to just meet some random guy who could see ghosts. But how bad could it be? I mean, although it might look like I hadn't thought about the possible dangerous, I had. I'm not as reckless as people like to think of me. By now, I had completely put aside the Keigo/ Mizuiro hypothesis. They were still at school. We were already walking in the centre of Karakura.

Ayumi stopped near the crosswalk. She looked around. "The guy who wanted to see you said he would be around here."

I looked around. No one seemed to be waiting anywhere. "Are you sure it was here?"

"Yup." She assured, her eyes searching around a second time. "I was walking by and this kind of tall dude with these strange green eyes came up to me and said: you have Arisawa Tatsuki's scent on you, but you're not her." She was now imitating the referred tall dude with green eyes. Green eyes? That reminded me of someone. "And then he asked if I knew you and I said: I like to watch her karate practises. And that's when he told me: bring her to me, child. I need her." She finished enthusiastically. "You know, now that I think about it, when he first talked to me, I was really scared. I thought he was going to killme." She laughed. "Crazy me! I mean, I'm already dead."

I suppose I should laugh as well since she was trying to make a joke and all, but I couldn't at the moment. I had a disturbing feeling growing in my chest like someone was slowly squeezing my insides. _You have to listen inside you now. The voice inside me called out. _

"You're so funny!" I tried to shake the feeling away. "Hey, Ayumi, tell me again how the guy looked like?"

Ayumi turned around to face me. She pouted. "I don't know. He was normal."

"What was he wearing?" I forced the issue, the feeling growing larger in my chest. Green eyes, green eyes...it couldn't be, could it?

"Just some plain boring white costume." She replied sort of annoyed. Fuck, fuck, fuck. White hakama. That was the description just like I remembered: black socks, white hakama and a hole. _That one's trash. _Those green eyes. That reiatsu. _You've got to listen now. Listen! _Listen what? I have to get out of here. But then Ayumi would be in danger. What should I do?

Too late! A hand grabbed me and I felt myself being lifted in the air. I could glimpse Ayumi on the groud still. Good. Maybe she can just go away and stay out of danger. Maybe he's just after me. But then again, why the hell would he be after me? It's not like I have a huge amount of reiatsu to serve as a meal.

"Arisawa, Tatsuki?" his hand was on my neck, but really that was unnecessary. I'm sure he was aware there wasn't a thing I could do against him.

"Who's asking?" Sure Tatsuki, just appeal to his funny side, I'm sure he has one.

"You should remind yourself to be more respectful in these situations, woman. I remember your dim reiatsu." Yeah, sure, go ahead. Shove the fact that I'm just a weak defenceless human in my face, why won't you?

The pressure on my throat disappeared and I fell flat on my butt. The situation didn't seem good to my side. What the fuck was an Espadadoing here? And it had to be this one in particular. Was he one of the guys who had Orihime? And if he was, just what the hell was I suppose to do. I tried to reach the emergency pager.

"Not so fast." I just had time to saw the pager diving down twelve floors. "I have a proposition to make you."

Oh, really? What kind? If you stay quiet I won't beat you up and I'll just eat your soul nice and quickly? I gathered some courage and stood up. No use being nice at this point.

"And who the fuck are you?" I yelled. It sounded great. If I was half as confident as I sounded it would have been even better. His face remained impassible. What was it with this guy and emotions? Did he forget how to make facial expressions or something during his transformation?

"Know your place, woman. Your legs are betraying your brave words." Damn it. He was right. I hadn't notice before but I was shaking all over. "If you must know, my name is Ulquiorra Schiffer and I'm the Quarto Espada under Aizen-sama's command."

So, Urahara had been right, he was a high ranked Espada. Fuck, just my luck.

"The proposition I have to make is as following: come with me and Inoue Orihime will be safe."

"What?"

"It is as I said, acknowledge of course that your bonds to this world and its inhabitants will be forever severed and your loyalty will belong to Aizen-sama until he no longer requires it. If you accept these rules, Inoue Orihime's safety will be guaranteed."

"So you are the bastards who have Orihime!" At that moment, two things crossed my mind: 1) I really must be stupid; 2) I have to get anger management classes. And with this in my mind I charged against my opponent. He didn't even flinch. I, on the other hand, ended up where I had started: on the floor with a broken wrist and soured leg to add to an already soured butt.

"That was pointless." He stated. Duh, so I've noticed. "Now, will you or will you not come with me?"

"I have no reasons to believe you'll keep your part of the deal."

"How about if I tell you that if you do not come with me right now, not just Inoue Orihime but also her so called rescuers will die?"

The shock on my face was behind obvious. "What do you want with me?" They needed Orihime. Urahara had explained us that much. So, there was no reason for them to kill her. As for Ichigo and the others, I was pretty much sure they could handle themselves. Besides, I wasn't just about to become another hostage in their game.

Ulquiorra's face remained expressionless. "You will see once we get to Las Noches. Now, will you come with me?"

"You can't expect me to just follow you. Like I've said, you gave me no assurance that Orihime would be safe once I go with you."

"Still, if you don't, I have only to snap my fingers and all your friends will die." Damn it. Damn it. What should I do? "You probably would like to make sure I'm not just fooling you, right? Well, see for yourself."

What felt like soul particles started floating from him to me. "These are the last images I have of all of your friends." He said. I don't know how he did it, but images of Ichigo and Orihime appeared in my head. Ichigo was once again getting the shit beaten out of him. Orihime was locked up somewhere with two mischievous looking arrancar. Then images of Rukia, Ishida, Chad and some other guy I remembered being a shinigami as well but couldn't quite remember the name popped up as well. Things weren't looking good.

"I don't get." I said frustrated. "I can't do anything against you. What keeps you from just taking me."?"

His face remaineda total stone. "Nothing. But if you accept these terms you must submit yourself to us and with it, you'll grant your friends more time to live. I you don't, they will die

It took me a few seconds to rationalize his words. The decision however had long be made. My friends wouldn't die if their lives rested on my answer.

"I will go with you."

"Don't forget your part of the deal then. Your human life ends now. And with it, all your bonds."

"Alright."

"Well then, let's get started." And just like that we were once again near the crosswalk. I was expecting him to open some sort of gate like the one Ichigo and the others went through but instead he pulled me on my feet. I was puzzled. Ayumi was nowhere to be seen. And then, bam. I didn't have time to apprehend what had just happened. I only vaguely saw a moving car coming towards me with no chance to dodge it.

You read in books and see in movies that when people die their life flashes before their eyes. I didn't see or heard anything. The only thing in my mind was the memory of his cold green eyes and the distant sound of a horn.

And that was... how I died.

* * *

I am currently reviewing this story so some minor details might change. I hope to continue it soon. Thanks for your support. ^_^


	2. Returning Home

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, Kubo Tite has the pleasure of owning it.

Second Edtion (Nov2011)

* * *

Himitsu

By

Marie Darkholme

**Chapter Two: **Returning Home

A black cat ran over the rooftop of a building. His form was barely visible due to the velocity at which it travelled. Not anyone would be looking at it anyways. That was the nicest thing about taking the form of a cat. Nobody seemed to notice you. At least most of the times.

The cat made a sudden stop and watched the scene taking place beneath it in the street twelve floors under. Paramedics and an ambulance were surrounded by an always morbidly curious crowd. Shihouin Youruichi wasn't sure about what was going on. Although she could say she had a privileged view, she still couldn't see what the commotion was all about. However it didn't bother her particularly. The presence she was looking for was gone. In fact, she wasn't really sure if it had ever been there to start with.

_Good, _she thought, _it wouldn't benefit us much if those damned Espada started to show up again and ruin our plans._

The black cat turned around and started making its way back to where it had come from. Had it looked back and it would've noticed a familiar face amongst the crowd. Not only that, it would have seen the person which was the reason for all the commotion. And it would most probably be surprised. Nevertheless, it didn't, so it could not see any of it.

The afternoon was already advanced when a mouth shaped hole ripped the sky. But it wasn't something visible to the normal eye, reason why no one noticed it.

Well, almost no one.

A young black haired girl stopped a soccer ball in the centre of the game field as she gazed towards the sky. From where she stood, she couldn't completely see it. Nevertheless, she could feel it.

"Hey, Kurosaki! What'cha doing?" one of her friends called out. The girl merely ignored the boy as she threw him back the ball and ran off the field. "Hey, Kurosaki, where are you going?"

"I have to go now, see ya guys tomorrow at school." She didn't bother looking back or saying goodbye. She just kept running towards the source of that familiar pressure she had felt earlier. The place where she knew a hole in the sky had appeared.

After running nonstop for a few minutes, she finally reached the place. Hiding behind a wall, she peeked. Her face showed a mixture of emotions: relief, happiness, anger. He was finally back. After two weeks of absence he was back and uninjured. She would have run to him, wrapped her arms around him and hug him with all her strength, but she kept herself from doing it. He was with his friends. People who weren't supposed to know what she knew.. Besides, she would rather have her outburst of happiness in a more private place where she could then corner her brother into finishing their pendant discussion.

Relieved to see him, she was contempt with just turning back and walking home to wait for him.

Kurosaki Ichigo had always sucked at feeling other people's reiatsu, reason why he didn't feel hs younger sister hiding in the corner. His eyes glanced up to the sky. The Gargantua had already disappeared in the orange skies as if it had never been there to start with. Then he looked around him. Rukia, Renji, Chad, Ishida and Inoue were also there. Somehow they had managed to return from Hueco Mundo. They were all alive and for the most part uninjured. Still, he couldn't feel happy.

Why wasn't he happy?

He should be, right? After all, they had managed to successfully infiltrate and leave Hueco Mundo.

Well, all of them had been pretty near to getting killed but somehow they had managed to get out. And that was actually what was hitching him. Ichigo didn't believe in luck or coincidences. So, he didn't believe that their escape was just a struck of luck. After defeating Grimmjow he together with Inoue had managed to cross half Las Noches unnoticed and find Rukia. hey had been worried for a sec. Rukia was in such a bad shape they were afraid she was dead. Inoue immediately started healing Rukia's wounds, just enough so that the black haired shinigami could escape with them. They found the rest of the group members and with the help of Pesche and Dondonchakka, they had escaped Las Noches.

No, if he could be certain of one thing that was that they hadn't _managed_ to escape Hueco Mundo.

They had been _allowed_ to escape.

And that frightened him. After all the trouble to get Inoue, why would Aizen just allow them to take her like that?

"Kurosaki-kun, are you feeling alright?" Inoue's worried voice interrupted his thoughts.

The orange haired shinigami feigned an attempt of a smile. "Yeah sure. Nothing to worry about, Inoue."

Unnoticed to him, the girl flinched to the name. He still called her Inoue. After all they had been through together, the fact that he didn't call her byher first name kind of hurt. It made her sad. During her captivity she had decided that if she ever had the opportunity, she would confide her feelings to him. But now, she was starting to doubt her resolution.

She rubbed her sleeve over her eyes faking to clean some dust. She was still wearing her Espada uniform. _The symbol of your loyalty to Aizen-sama_, Ulquiorra had told her. It was in fact a remembrance of her betrayal. Orihime swallowed her sadness and her eyes sparkled when the tears trying to get out were kept inside. She smiled innocently. She had always been good faking her emotions.

"This was a much better landing than the one we did last time." Ishida Uryuu pushed his glasses up his nose where they were, once again, threatening to fall off.

Rukia and Renji eyed him curiously. "What do you mean?" the red haired shinigami asked as he readjusted his headband that was incapable of keeping his hair from falling over his face

"Well, last time, Urahara-san threw some kind of mat that caught us in a ball." The quincy explained as he rearranged the rest of his garments, which were all dirty and torn.

"That sounds like something Urahara would have indeed." Rukia laughed.

"Maybe we should go meet him and tell him what happened in Hueco Mundo." The always quiet Sado Yasutora talked for the first time since they had arrived.

"There will be no need for you to do that."

Urahara Kisuke was, as opposing to Ichigo, very good when it came to track down other's reiatsu while he hid his own. Well, but he was good in several other things besides that. Because of this, he had sensed all of them the second they had entered Karakura and had calmly made his way there. This time, he was unable to wait for them like the first time. There was something wrong with their arrival.

"Glad to see you all in one piece." Yoruichi greeted. Not only she but also Tessai, Ururu, Jinta and Kon were there. "We weren't expecting you to come back so soon."

"Welcome back!" Ururu took a fire cracker and made it blow up with a loud sound.

"You moron. Don't make so much noise." Jinta promptly smacked the girl in the head.

Renji took a step forward and removed Jinta from his spot. "When will you change, squirt? That's not the way you treat a lady."

Ururu blushed but Jinta kept trying to get away from Renji's grip. "Let me go, freeloader-san."

"Well, you're not the best person to be giving lessons on how to treat a woman, Abarai-san." The quincy couldn't keep himself from making that one remark, knowing perfectly well the shinigami would be angered by it. As expected, Renji quickly released Jinta and faced Uryuu that meekly straightened up his glasses once more.

"Abarai-san…Ishida-san…" Inoue looked from the quincy to the shinigami, not knowing what to say to stop the seemingly imminent fight.

Rukia patted Orihime on the shoulder. "Let them be, Inoue, let them be."

The only ones that remained motionless were Ichigo, who seemed to be drifting in a very faraway place and Yasutora that decided upon simply ignoring both the shinigami and the quincy. As for their audience, Jinta kept on poking Ururu until Tessai felt the obligation to separate the children. Urahara watched the scene with an amused expression hidden behind his fan and Yoruichi just shook her head in disapproval of the childlike behaviour of both teenagers. As for Kon, he was pondering whether he should run to his _Valley of the Gods_ or to his o_ne-san_. But because he was in Ichigo's body, he decided against both the options. The shinigami would murder him if he did such a thing with his body.

"Just ask Rukia! I'm a true gentleman." Renji turned to his friend in search of her agreement, but the girl just shook her head.

"Would you two just stop it?" Fed up with all the nonsense Yoruichi decided to stop it. "Don't you kids need to go home or something?"

The team eyed her. They were about to complain when Rukia spoke. "Yoruichi-san is right. We've been absent for two weeks. And we're all tired. We should go home and meet tomorrow to discuss." Everyone seemed to silently agree they should leave the discussion to the following day. "We also need to report to Soul Society." She remembered. "Let's go Ichigo."

But the orange haired shinigami didn't even move. He was too lost in thought.

"Ichigo!"

"Hey, what the hell was that for?" Ichigo cried when Rukia kicked his leg. He glared at her. "Can't you be nicer? That hurt, damn it."

"Just get the hell into your body and let's go home." She kicked him again.

"Bitch!" the shinigami yelled at her as he walked over to Kon. Picking his substitute shinigami badge he hit his body with it, and the pill came out. The stuffed toy that Kon's usual body was tucked insideIchigo's jeans back pocket. After entering his body, Ichigo picked up the stuffed animal and inserted the pill in its mouth.

"Neeeeeeeeeee-saaaaaaaaaaannnn!" Kon jumped off Ichigo's hands towards Rukia only to meet her foot on his face and then the hard asphalt.

"Shouldn't you get your gigai as well, Rukia-san?" Urahara remembered the black haired shinigami. She eyed him.

"Well…" she looked at herself pondering the question. Being inside the gigai was kind of constricting after being out of it for so long, but she knew she couldn't just hang around Ichigo in her soul form. It would be weird. She was about to tell Ichigo to go on without her when someone came running towards her. Caught off guard, she couldn't keep her mod soul from jumping on her and knocking her to the ground.

"What the fuck are you doing, dumbass?" she yelled at the mod soul when she managed to get on her feet.

"Rukia-san! You're alright! I was so worried that you might get killed."

Rukia didn't bother yelling at her mod soul again, taking her glove, she hit her gigai and the pill came out. After that, Rukia slowly entered it. She really hated gigai. They were so confining.

"Now that everyone is ready, we should part our ways." Urahara said as he prepared to leave.

"Wait, Urahara-san!" Ichigo called out. "I don't think we should leave Inoue alone at her house. They might try to take her again."

Orihime blushed. "Kuro…Kurosaki-kun…you don't need to worry…about me."

Urahara smiled. "It was to be expected that Kurosaki-san would say something like that. And although I believe they won't be coming after her again so soon, if they come at all, I have already arranged for her protection."

"I'll be accompanying Orihime." A black cat tried to disentangle its paws from a bunch of clothes on the floor.

"Well, it seems like everything's done. Please everyone meet me tomorrow after classes in the shop. There is much we need to discuss." And with this last goodbye, Urahara turned his back on them and walked away through the road he had taken. Ururu, Jinta and Tessai swiftly followed him.

"See you guys tomorrow." The tattooed shinigami bid his friends farewell as he followed Tessai.

The night had almost settled with only some golden rays of the sun adorning the clouds covering the horizon. The rest of the group fell silent for a moment.

"I'll be going as well." Sado Yasutora broke the silence as his imposing figure walked away in a slow pace with his hands in his pockets.

"Orihime, let's go." Yoruichi jumped to a nearby wall and started walking away, followed by Inoue.

"Until tomorrow, Kurosaki-kun, Kuchiki-san." She waved her hand happily as she left.

The quincy didn't like to be emotional so he simply walked away towards his home. "'Till tomorrow!"

"I guess that leaves us, ne-san." Kon tried to jump to Rukia's arms once again but was stopped by her hand. She picked it up keeping it as far away from her as she could.

"You're dirty. Keep away from me." She complained as she threw it back to Ichigo. The latter just picked up Kon and knitted it to his jeans' belt. The stuffed lion was about to complain but seeing as it wouldn't make any difference, he just let Ichigo do it..

The trio made their way to Kurosaki Clinic as the night fell and involved Karakura city. A cold wind blew making Rukia's skin crawl. She was back. It was hard to believe. But she was back. Her mind travelled back to Hueco Mundo and her battle. _Kaien-dono_… She knew she had done the right thing. That wasn't Kaien anymore, she knew it. Still, it hurt just the same. It felt like she had betrayed him once again. Trying to change the path of memories along which her thoughts were taking her, she looked at the shinigami walking beside her. He seemed gloomy and depressed. Ichigo was the worst when he was depressed.

"What's wrong with you?" she feigned disinterest in her own question.

"Nothing." He replied continuing to walk forward, his hands tucked into his pockets, his brows furrowed as always.

"Like someone would ever believe you."

"I'm just thinking, alright? Can't a guy think for a while?" he complained, his eyes not leaving the ground.

"Can't you think without making that gloomy face of yours? Is fucking annoying."

Ichigo ignored the comment. Rukia raised an eyebrow. That was definitely bad. He wasn't even responding to her provocations. He was just like the last time when he had first lost against Yammy. She was wondering if she should subject him to the same treatment as before, but she knew this time it was something different that was bothering him. After all, his hollow was now under his control. She was about to try getting something else out of him when she noticed they were standing outside the Kurosaki Clinic.

"Aren't we going inside?" she asked.

Ichigo gave her a goofy smile as he scratched his head. "I'm actually thinking of an excuse to give them."

Unfortunately he had no time to think of one. "Ichigooooooooo!" a foot went flying towards his face. The shinigami dodged it and blocked the punch his father aimed to his stomach.

"You just can't quit, can ya, old man?" he punched his father in the face.

"Your timing is getting better, Ichigo. However, there is no way of dodging my special kick!"

To be true, Ichigo didn't dodge the kick. Instead he blocked and grabbed his father leg, throwing him to the ground. Meanwhile, Rukia had ignored this father/son show of affection and entered the Kurosaki's household.

"Rukia-chan! You're back." The younger of the Kurosaki's sisters was preparing dinner when she saw the black haired girl entering the house through the door her father had left open. "I'm so happy." Yuzu cried. This called Karin's attention. The black haired tomboy was watching a soccer match on the television. Opposing to Yuzu, she didn't look surprised to see Rukia.

"Where's Ichi-nii?" Karin inquired as she turned off the television. Just then, Ichigo entered the house. His eyes met his sister's and he immediately knew the night was going to be long. He had, after all, a lot to explain to his spiritually aware sister.

"Ichi-nii!" Yuzu dropped the wooden spoon she was using to mix the vegetables in the frying pan and run to her brother, her eyes filling with fresh tears. "You're finally home. I thought that man was going to keep you working at his shop forever." She cried into his chest. Ichigo was puzzled. _Work where?_ He inquired himself. "Even if you did break a lot of stuff in his store, Urahara-sama should have been more understanding and allowed you to come to sleep at home or at least visit us." She continued.

_Oh, that explains it._, Ichigo thought to himself. _But what kind of stupid excuse did he make up?_ He watched as Rukia suppressed a laugh from where she was standing.

Yuzu had already calmed down and they were now preparing to eat when Isshin came back in, crawling and holding his stomach. Karin rolled her eyes and Yuzu pretended not to have seen while they all sat and started to eat.

"Did you see this, okaasan?" Isshin quickly crawled to Masaki's poster and started to cry over it. "Our daughters are getting so mean."

"Get over yourself, old man." Karin said annoyed.

Isshin however didn't make any motion and kept weeping and moping around Masaki's poster on how their daughters had changed and how they used to always be sweet and caring before when Ichigo hit him. Ichigo rolled his eyes at this comment. The old man had some nerves. It was always him who started to beat him up for no apparent reason.

Finally Isshin stopped and straightening himself as if nothing had ever happened, he walked over to the table and sat at his place launching inquiring looks to both Ichigo and Rukia as to imply they had done something they needed to tell them about.

When dinner was over, Ichigo excused himself to his room. Rukia was about to follow him when she noticed Karin swiftly leaving her place to do it. Understanding they needed to talk, the shinigami decided to postpone her own discussion with Ichigo.

The orange haired substitute shinigami slash vizard associate sighed when he heard the knock on his bedroom door. He didn't need to think much to know who was standing on the other side. "Come in, Karin."

As she slipped into her nightgown, Orihime couldn't help smiling at the curled black fur ball standing next to her futon. She surely felt safer having Yoruichi-san around. It felt like the time when Matsumoto-san would sleep in her room or when Tatsuki-chan came around and stayed late. A hint of guilty pinched her. It had been a while since she had last thought about her best friend. Right, the last time had been when she was about to leave with Ulquiorra. She had pondered if Tatsuki should be the one to whom she would bid farewell, but in the end, she turned up on Kurosaki's bedroom and she had…almost…

She touched her lips. If she closed her eyes, she could still feel his calm breath and his warmth on her skin; on her lips. She lied down on the bed, trying to keep herself from reminiscing that moment of weakness when she had almost kissed Kurosaki. It wasn't right for anyone to just kiss someone who was asleep. Still, at that time, it felt like she was doing the right thing.

Glancing a last time to the sleeping cat besides her, Orihime bit her bottom lip, trying to keep a few tears from falling down her face and turned around, closing her eyes.

She woke up the following day at the sound of her alarm clock, followed by two soft cushion-like things rubbing against her face. Still half asleep she smiled, saying something Yoruichi could not completely understand; something about bread with peanut butter and honey. Getting slightly annoyed, the woman in cat form drew out her claws and made three nice scratches on the sleeping princess' arm. This got Orihime fully awake.

"Sorry about that." The cat apologized as it drank a portion of milk Inoue had poured in a small bowl for it. "But you just wouldn't awake."

Orihime smiled brightly. "Don't apologize, Yoruichi-san. If it hadn't been for you, I would probably be late for school and after missing for so long, I really should try to get there on time." The girl laughed as she treated herself to some bread with peanut butter and honey.

After it, she dressed her school uniform and combed her hair, adjusting her hairpins. She looked at her reflection in the mirror. It looked fairly good. She made a huge smile, trying to adjust her eyes to it. She had to keep the façade up no matter what. She couldn't worry Kurosaki and if he saw she was unhappy she was sure he would worry. It was just in his nature. He couldn't really help it.

"Are you going to be accompanying me to school as well, Yoruichi-san?" she asked as she picked up her school bag and opened the door. The cat quickly got out.

"Yes. But while you're at school I'll go meet Kisuke to discuss something. Ichigo and the others are there, so I really needn't be there as well."

"I'm sorry for all the trouble I am causing."

"Don't be. Pretty soon you won't have to worry about it anymore." And with this, Yoruichi started walking again. Orihime was intrigued but decided that she would ask about the meaning of her words later on in the meeting they would have.

Ichigo couldn't believe how nervous he was. It felt just like that time when he had first entered the dojo and had been pared up with Tatsuki. After facing Karin's endless questions the night before, he now had someone far worse to face once he got to school. He had been dreading that moment for the entire night. How would she react? Would she forgive him? What about Mizuiro and Keigo? By now, he was pretty sure they also knew something. Would they forgive him? He had been lying and deceiving all three of them for quite a long time. It had been for their own good. Or at least, that's what he had told himself over and over again. But Tatsuki's eyes were haunting him again, even though he hadn't thought about her ever since that day when she had punched his head through the window.

"Ichigo?" only by the third time, did the substitute shinigami heard his name being called. Apparently Renji had met up with him and Rukia and was trying to ask him something.

"Huh?"

"Don't huh me!" replied an angered Renji. "I've been shouting your name all the way and you didn't even flinch."

"You want something?"

"Hell yeah! Are you fucking okay? I think the Espadamight have just banged your head a little too hard when you fought 'cause you seem like a damn moron walking around with no sense of reality."

"It's nothing." Ichigo continued to look ahead.

"There he goes again, saying its nothing." Rukia clenched her fists in fury. Then, in a way to relieve the pressure and on the other hand to get the strawberry to react she punched him in the face.

"What the fuck…!" Ichigo stopped. "Are you retarded or what?" he eyed her with killing intent. "How many times have I told you not to just go and punch people all of a sudden?"

"Well, you deserved that one." Renji stated. This statement was sure to get a reply which started a fight between the three shinigami with Rukia and Renji siding up against Ichigo. In the beginning, that was. Halfway the fight, however, Renji had switched sides to back Ichigo up when the latter said Rukia was bad tempered. Of course, this caused both of them to be punched in the face which caused Renji to blame Ichigo for Rukia's anger and therefore start yet another discussion.

"Fighting so early in the morning." The trio looked behind to see the Quincy yawning with an amused face as he watched them. This managed to cool their tempers down.

The first thing Ichigo noticed when he slid the door to his classroom open was that both Chad and Inoue were already there. The second was that Mizuiro and Keigo were also there. The third was that, unexpectedly, Tatsuki hadn't arrived yet. He advanced towards his seat, greeting Inoue and Chad on the way. Putting down his school bag he took a deep breath. The fact that Keigo hadn't come running towards him like he usually did could only mean one of two things: either he was tired of getting his face hit or they were both angry with him. He was about to put his theory to test when the sensei entered the room.

The woman looked around the room and smiled. "Kurosaki-san and friends. Glad to see the gang showing your asses here again. She looked around again. "Unfortunately the class is still not complete. Kojima-kun do you have any news on Arisawa's condition?"

_Condition?_ In the heads of two people in the room, the word resonated.

"She's still in a coma, sensei."

"What?"

* * *

Well, hope you've felt entertained by this chapter. What really happened to Tatsuki? I had some difficulties adjusting the orginal story to my purpose. Thanks everyone who reviewed. I ended up saying thanks here the same because, well, it makes more sense. Anyway, point out any mistakes you find.

Arigatou gozaimasu.


	3. Ulquiorra's New Subordinate

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. Kubo Tite does.

Second edition (Nov2011)

* * *

Himitsu

By

Marie Darkholme

**Chapter Three:** Ulquiorra's New Subordinate

Las Noches. Not the best place to be but hey, it could actually be worse. A charming man on his own way, Aizen sat on his throne-like chair, which stood a few meters above de floor. With the exception of his usual look of superiority and that hint of sadism on his lips, his face remained for the most part without expression. The simply dimly illuminated room was the meeting room for the Espada. That day, however, it was empty. Both the Espada and Aizen's allies, Gin and Tousen were absent.

Footsteps echoed through the halls well before anyone could be seen in the room. Aizen however had already detected the presence of one of his beloved Espada. Ulquiorra walked into the room, his hands in his pockets and his face an empty mask as always. The Quarto Espada had always been like that, even when before he had evolved into an arrancar.

The Espada bent down and rested one of his knees on the ground. His head faced down. The room was silent.

"Aizen-sama, the woman is ready."

The expression on the former shinigami didn't change. "Tell her to come in."

Ulquiorra stood up and exited the room. Just then Aizen allowed a smirk to play on his lips. He was satisfied. The experiment had gone better than he had anticipated. From the beginning he knew he had bet on the right lab rat. But in the end, even if it didn't work, he had nothing to loose.

After about five minutes, steps were heard from the corridor leading to the room once more. Then two people entered. Both of them knelt down. One of them was Ulquiorra and the other was a girl in arrancar uniform.

"You sent for me?" the girl asked, perhaps a little too briskly. A sudden pressure made the space around her suddenly heavy. "Aizen…sama…"

Ulquiorra stood from his kneeling position and took two steps backwards, preparing to leave.

"Ulquiorra, wait." Aizen's voice made the arrancar stop almost instantly. "This issue concerns you."

The Espada stuck his hands in his pockets as he waited; his face remained unchanged. The girl followed the arrancar example and stood from her kneeling position, her hands behind her back, her face staring forward to some undefined point between Aizen's chair and the floor.

"Arisawa Tatsuki." The shinigami said her name in a rather eerie way that sent chills down her spine. She wasn't sure if it was because of the adrenalin of standing before Aizen for the first time in six months or if it was his sole presence that aroused such a feeling in her. Either way, it was like something she had never felt. She had never been afraid of anyone or anything but at that moment, she felt completely overwhelmed. Overwhelmed and yet, she wasn't scared, she wasn't allowed to. She knew, however. Aizen wouldn't even have to lift a finger for her to be dead. It was a strange sensation. But, somehow, she liked it. It made her feel alert and eager to improve.

She could feel his eyes on her, carefully studying her. He was checking how far she had progressed, how powerful she had become, where her weaknesses lied. She felt exposed; like her soul had been stripped naked, all her hopes and dreams, all her weaknesses, all her secrets.

"You've finished your advanced training." He stated, his cheek resting on the knuckles of his hand. "Now, it is time for you to become part of the Espada."

Tatsuki's lips trembled with her Aizen's words. _Part of the Espada._ Did he mean as an Espada's fracción? It was simply crazy. She was the weakest arrancar in Las Noches and he was just throwing her to the hungry wolves. She was conscious of her limits. Ichimaru Gin and Ulquiorra Schiffer had throughout made sure she knew her place and that place ranked very low. "Ah, don't worry. I'm sure the Espada will welcome you." The shinigami seemed amused with her reaction. Tatsuki on the other hand could find nothing funny in the entire situation. "You'll become part of the Espada as a fracción under the Quarto Espada, Ulquiorra Schiffer."."

She was speechless. After everything that had happened she knew that she was bound to join the Espada. Still, not this soon, and of all the damned arrancar in Las Noches, Aizen had to pick the one she most hated to be her direct superior.

"Aizen-sama, are you sure that's…She quickly fell on her knees. But this time it wasn't Aizen who did it. It was Ulquiorra.

"Don't forget your place, woman. You are here to serve Aizen-sama." The Quarto Espada said in his cold voice. His expression remained emotionless and even his voice had been even. But she already knew him enough to know he was angry.

When he lifted the pressure caused by his enormous reiatsu, Tatsuki struggled with her breath for a second, and then she cursed him. When she was finally sure her voice wouldn't tremble, she replied in an almost inaudible voice: "My apologies, Aizen-sama. I will do as you command me to."

Both arrancar bowed and left the room, leaving their leader sitting on his chair. Once outside, Tatsuki felt her arm being gripped tightly to the point of fracture. Her blue eyes met Ulquiorra's empty green ones as he pushed her against the wall. But for the first time since she had met the arrancar she could see something shining in his eyes, his expressionless face faltering just a bit with anger.

"I do not like the perspective of having such a weakling as my Fracción, woman. However, I'll respect Aizen-sama's decision." He pushed her further against the wall, if possible. If she could still feel anything close to fear, that would be it. His eyes were cold and if he could she knew he would kill her right in that instant. However, she had denied to herself the right to be afraid ever again. "Nevertheless, if you don't want to be killed in a nearby future, I suggest you train very hard or I'll kill you whether Aizen-sama's allows it or not."

And with a last jerk of his wrist, he left her there, calmly disappearing in the darkened halls as if nothing had ever happened. The girl smiled. She had made him angry even without trying. Oh well, he had been her enemy ever since the entire ordeal had started. She touched her bandaged chest. The wound was completely healed; however it still felt like it was there. She straightened her clothes and threw her head back, her hair falling back in its place on her back. She had thought about cutting it short again but decided against it. The hairstyle change might come handy one day. She then walked away from the meeting room towards the Quarto Espada's domain. She would have to settle herself in there from now on. Not that she had anything to move to her new room, anyway.

She had made it through half the way when she was intercepted by someone who put a hand over her mouth. Her body reacted before she could think which was a dangerous thing to do when there were so many dangerous and blood-hungered arrancar around. Her hand moved to the wrist of the hand over her mouth and bent it back distancing it from her. That's when another hand grabbed her throat and she was pulled against her opponent who stood behind her. Her other hand moved to the other wrist of the person but she wasn't neither quick or strong enough to grab it and in the meantime, her opponent managed to break his other hand free and twisted her arm behind her back.

"Tch…still behaving like a wild kitten." He whispered in her ear. She smiled recognizing both his voice and his reiatsu. She should have noticed him before. "Heard you got promoted to Ulquiorra's herd."

"You call that being promoted? I would say I was demoted. Anyways, you can't call that a herd. It's just me in there."

"You got that right, bitch."

"Would you stop calling me names, dumbass!" she replied trying to break free from his grip. The remains of his hollow mask on his jaw hit against the top of her head and mask. "And while you're at it, could you get your hands off me."

The Espada laughed loudly as he allowed her to rub her sore wrist. It had been three months since he had last seen her. He could tell she had changed in such short time. Did he care? Not much. But he was, nevertheless, curious. They had something between them. He wasn't quite sure what to call it but it felt somehow similar to what he had had with his previous Fracción. Then again, that might have been something entirely different from what was happening there. He was…

"Hey…bitch, that hurt." His thoughts were interrupted by the girl's fist on his chest, strong enough to trouble his breathing and for him to feel the need to rub it.

"It's called revenge, deal with it."

"I see you got yourself a new uniform." He walked around her, checking her out. "Nice!"

"Jealous, Grimmjow?" her hand moved to her hair in a cocky manner and threw it behind her back again.

A partial cranium of a dragon adorned the top of her head with two pairs of horn pointing backwards in such a way that if she pushed the remains of her hollow mask down, it would end up just above her eyes, like a helmet of some sort. From under her eyes, a bunch of particles that looked like scales send out white and blue reflexes. Her arrancar uniform was close to standard. She wore white hakama and sandals with black socks. Her chest was covered with ligatures only seen between her sleeveless hooded keigoki. The outfit was completed by white ribbons made of white tissue that enveloped her forearms leaving a pair of them falling down in the place where they tied up under the elbow. The only thing missing was her zanpakutou, which was tied up to her waist falling alongside her left leg.

The two arrancar started walking again, but this time in a different direction. Tatsuki knew there was no way Grimmjow would walk into Ulquiorra's domain.

"So it's true, then?" The Sexta Espada looked at her.

"Unfortunately. It's not that I like to hang around him, as you know, but there's nothing I can do about it." Her hand travelled unconsciously to her chest.

"Don't tell me you haven't healed yet, Arisawa?" Grimmjow laughed as he watched her. She elbowed him in the chin.

"I'm not as slow as you when it comes to healing." She replied as she walked ahead of him. He just shook the comment aside, refraining from answering back. They walked through the long corridors until they reached a large arch frame that led outside. They silently walked through it and found themselves under the night sky of Las Noches. They walked over to their usual spot and sat down. Their usual spot was not that impressive. It basically consisted of a bunch of stones near a dead tree surrounded by a hell lot of sand.

"So…where have you been for the last…three months? Haven't seen you around. As a matter of fact, I haven't even felt your reiatsu." The Sexta Espada lied down on the sand staring at the sky. They were in a desert-like environment under an eternal night. He didn't dislike it. In fact, he preferred the cold environment of the outside of Las Noches' palace to the bright skies created by Aizen inside the Espadas' domains.

The female arrancar was sitting, her knees next to her chest. She stared at the endless desert before her. The silence extended for quite a long time before Tatsuki replied. What was this relationship she had with the Sexta Espada? Could she say they were friends? She trusted him. Even though that sounded a bit unrealistic. Should she trust him? He was an arrancar…but he was at least more trustworthy than all the other arrancar and shinigami she knew. Still…she couldn't tell him the truth. He wouldn't want anything to do with her after that and being completely alone in Las Noches, hell, in the entire Hueco Mundo was too lonely, even for her.

"I was training with Ichimaru."

Grimmjow sat up in surprise which caused Tatsuki to move away. "With the shinigami bastard? Why the fuck were doing that?" he stood up and put his hands in his pockets. He watched her from above. That made her feel uneasy so she stood up and turned her back to him.

"I…I just…"

"Looks at this!" a guttural voice exclaimed. "If it isn't the kitten and Ulquiorra's new punch bag."

"And who the fuck are you?" Tatsuki yelled back at him.

"Don't mess around with me, bitch, or I'll kill you." The gigantic arrancar made a step forward. Grimmjow let out a bored sigh and moved to stand besides Tatsuki.

"Yo, Yammy. What the hell do you want?"

"Nothing much. Just curious to see the new arrancar." He pointed to the only girl there. He arched his brows and took a step closer. Neither of the two arrancar moved. "Now that I get to see you up-close, I get the feeling I've seen ya before?"

Tatsuki's face twitched wrinkling in a disgusted expression. "I think I would remember an ugly face like yours." She replied coolly. Grimmjow couldn't keep himself from smirking. It was about to become interesting. Yammy on the other hand didn't find Tatsuki's comment amusing. He raised his enormous hand and prepared to strike her head.

"You bitch!" his fist came down and slammed against…

…the sand?

The girl had just disappeared from beneath Yammy's hand and was now just beside him. He eyed her surprised and prepared to hit her again, only to fail a second time. Tatsuki had just moved to his front and once again he had failed to see it. And suddenly he couldn't see her in front of him anymore.

"Your aim is really bad." Tatsuki mocked him as she used sonido again to escape yet another attempt of Yammy to hit her. Grimmjow walked over to the entrance to the corridor and sat down.

The black haired arrancar was amazed with herself. Had she just escaped three sequential punches from Yammy, an Espada? Maybe she wasn't as weak as Ichimaru had wanted her to think. But she had no time to think about it at the moment. It looked like she had really upset the Décimo Espada. He was now furiously pursuing her. She still hadn't attacked him and she wasn't just about to start. As long as she kept only escaping from his hits, he would eventually get tired and leave her alone. But if she started to fight back…well, let's just say she didn't want to put those six months of training to nothing.

"You stupid woman, stop evading my attacks." He yelled frustrated. Tatsuki smirked. It wasn't very intelligent of her to keep insulting him, she knew that, still, she couldn't keep herself from doing it.

"It's not my fault that besides being the dumbest arrancar around, you also manage to be the slowest." She scoffed at him. This of course, caused Yammy to get even more furious.

The girl stopped on top of a rock. "Catch me if you can."

The arrancar smiled and held out his hand at her where a large red ball started to appear. He was going to use a cero against her. She had to get out of its way, still something glued her to the spot and instead of moving, she defiantly stood there. The Décimo Espada released his cero that hit the exact spot where Tatsuki had been earlier. However, she wasn't there anymore. At the last minute, she had used sonido and escaped once again.

This was the last drop for the Espada. Without thinking through, he took out his zanpakutou and prepared to attack her. Tatsuki's hand travelled to the hilt of her zanpakutou. She was no match for him with a katana, she was sure of it. When Yammy charged forward, she raised her zanpakutou and prepared to be cut in half, but to her surprise, her hands descended a bit and then halted. She had actually managed to successfully stop the Espada's attack. But she didn't have the time to be happy about it. Yammy was now more pissed then ever. That…that midget had stopped his attack? She had stopped it.

Before Tatsuki could think properly on what had happened, the Décimo Espada brought down his zanpakutou again in a clear intent to slice her into half. She was one sonido ahead of him. She avoided his third and fourth attack using the same technique.

"Could you _please _make him stop?" she yelled at Grimmjow who was undisturbed, watching their fight while leaning against the wall.

Tatsuki avoided another one of Yammy's attacks and glared at him when he replied. "Why should I? You're doing so well."

The girl cursed and prepared to meet another of the Décimo Espada's hit. Her zanpakutou was forced down by mere difference in strength and she was forced to use sonido to get away from Yammy's sword. The giant smiled when the blood started trickling down Tatsuki's perfectly clean keigoki and onto the floor. He had managed to inflict a deep cut to her shoulder.

"It looks like your Hierro sucks, girly! You're done for." he laughed out.

Grimmjow's eyes jolted to where Tatsuki was. Was it just him or had her reiatsu made a sudden change? No! There was definitely something different about her spiritual force just now. But Yammy sucked at pesquisa so he probably hadn't noticed.

Tatsuki's eyes glittered in a dark blue shade. She looked down to her shoulder and smiled. Her hierro had never been very strong, the moron was right about that. But it had an explanation. Not that she was giving one to him. As for his second assumption, he couldn't have been farther from the truth. She could feel it. Her reiatsu had just made a jump. But more than that, she could feel the anger boiling in her veins. He had wounded her. Her blood had been shed. _No one was allowed to shed her blood._

One second she was there, the next she wasn't. Her sonido was so fast that Grimmjow was having difficulty following her moves. Then…a yelp. Yammy turned around. His back had just been attacked and a shallow cut had crossed him from shoulder to hip. The girl stopped in front of him, mockingly, an evil smirk playing on her lips as she licked them in anticipation of her next movement. The Espada felt a blade hitting his shoulder and coming down. It was just like that other time when the orange haired human had chopped off his arm. Even though there was an obvious difference between him and the girl, she just seemed to be joking around and enjoying the moment.

Yammy was preparing to receive another hit when the cursed blade was stopped in middle air and the girl was sent flying against the nearest wall.

"Ulquiorra!" he exclaimed in his deep harsh voice.

"Baka!" the Quarto Espada punched him in the stomach. "Don't go killing my fracción without my approval."

Grimmjow straightened up, distancing himself from the wall that was about to fall down. Tatsuki had just made a hole in it and ended up in hitting the next wall where she was struggling to get on her feet. "Kill her?" he laughed. "Don't joke around, Ulquiorra." His blue eyes pierced right through Ulquiorra's. The tension between the two was touchable. "He was the one about to be killed!" and with this last comment, the Sexta Espada turned around and entered the darkened hall.

"This uniform was fucking new." Tatsuki mumbled annoyed as she limped towards Ulquiorra. She knew she was going to get scolded for this later. But still, it was worth it, just to see Yammy's face. Revenge accomplished. And sooner than expected too.

Ulquiorra glanced over to where she was. For someone who had just gone through a wall, she was quite well, apart from a cut just above her right brow that was, nevertheless, bleeding abundantly. He sighed. He was hoping he would have done more damages, but he couldn't risk killing her. At least, not for now. "Let's go, woman."

And the two of them also disappeared in the corridor.

Tatsuki followed the green eyed arrancar. What else could she do? She knew she was about to be punished for her actions. But really, what could she do? There was nowhere for her to run. No matter how big Hueco Mundo was, there was no place where she could hide. And besides that, was also the fact that she didn't want to run away. She had plans; she had things she needed to do and she could only do them while staying in Las Noches at Aizen's orders, under Ulquiorra's command. Still, everything could have been made much easier if she had been made into Grimmjow's fracción.

Once again, she found herself thinking over the reason why she had became closer to the panther. It had happened a month after she had arrived at Las Noches. The Sexta Espada was still recovering from the wounds inflicted to him in his latest battle, one he had lost. That had been the first time she had seen him. The first time she had seen him since she had became her new self.

"_What the fuck is this?" the yelling could be heard in the entire palace of Las Noches. Well, maybe she was exaggerating a bit. Still, couldn't the asshole who had been shouting for almost the entire afternoon shut his trap for an hour or two? There were actually people trying to rest in that forsaken place._

_Annoyed to no end, the black haired arrancar slowly swung her feet over to the side of the bed. The moment they touched the ground she noticed how the floor was cold and that she was barefooted. Not that she cared. Being barefooted in there was the least of her worries. She stood up, or better yet, she tried to. However, her body wasn't apparently fully recovered yet. She cursed as she sat back and tried once more. This time she managed to stay up._

_Slowly and painfully she managed to reach the door of the room where she was being kept. She turned the knob and was surprised to see it wasn't locked. _I wonder if they suddenly started to trust me. _She smirked. She knew they wouldn't ever fully trust her no matter how hard she tried to convince them she was on their side._

_The door was heavier than she had expected or maybe it was just because she felt weak. Either way, it took her best effort to open it. Once outside she was able to see who was making such a ruckus. A blue haired arrancar was trying to evade his caretakers. "I said I don't need to be treated!" he yelled throwing a smaller arrancar against the wall. _

"_Grimmjow-san, Aizen-sama said it was of vital importance that you made a complete recovery."_

"_Fuck it! Fuck it all." At this moment, he had already been subdued by five arrancar. One of them administered an anesthesia and the blue haired arrancar called Grimmjow drifted into unconsciousness. "I will kill him. I swear I will kill him. That was just a struck of luck…I…am…the…K…King." _

"Don't go starting fights which you cannot win." The cold voice of Ulquiorra brought her back from the limbo of her thoughts. She smirked.

"It looked to me that I was winning it." She replied in I don't give a shit what you think way. The Espada didn't flick, but she knew she had hit him. She was beginning to realize that maybe everything she had been told by him might have been an utter lie. Maybe she wasn't as weak as he had tried to make her believe. After putting her new strengths to the test, she realized she was strong. She was actually strong. And with more training she might just be able to do it; to actually fulfill her plan.

Suddenly, Ulquiorra stopped and Tatsuki almost bumped into him if it wasn't for her newly acquired reflexes.

"As for your punishment…" with a jerk of his wrist he threw something at her. The girl caught it and looked at it only barely before it started to enlarge and engulfed her in darkness. "Caja Negácion with a little twist." The arrancar announced before the girl disappeared into a different dimension.

* * *

So, this chapter took a while to be posted because I was out. I hope the next one will be posted soon. Sorry. Oh by the way, if anyone is wondering, well, I didn't want to ruin the surprise but I guess it's kind of given anyway. I'm a TatsuIchi fan, so don't worry because this will not be a GrimmjowTatsuki fic. I just thought it would be fun to make them interact as "friends"

Anyway, I would like to thank the reviewers:

EveryEye: thanks for your constructive criticism. If you could point out my mistakes, I could try to correct them.

fan girl 666: I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

bodmod: glad you liked it.

satar: she didn't actually died. But in a way you could say she's dead.

his name was V: hope this chapter met your expectations.

deathberry47: well, she does have powers as you can see/read. Lol

dragonlayer: sorry to disappoint you. Ichigo's and co reactions will be up in the next chapter along with a little something.

mmmcereal: glad to have surprised you.

Mira: hopefully this will take an interesting path for Tatsuki's fans.

Arshihawk: Ulquiorra might be a little off character here. But I think he is bound to loose his composure someday.

Akatsuki Leader 13: hope you've enjoyed this chapter. I'll be waiting for your reviews. After all, this story was written thanks to your encourgement.


	4. The Aftermath

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. Guess who does? Kubo Tite of course.

Second Edition (Nov2011)

* * *

Himitsu

By

Marie Darkholme

**Chapter Four:** The Aftermath

The sky was heavy with rain that threatened to fall down at any moment. It had been like that for the past two days. Still, not a drop had managed to escape from above. So the clouds would simply accumulate, turning darker and darker as the time passed, preparing to crush the earth once their stored watery material was released. Outside, a cold wind blew crazily shaking the trees' branches violently and forcing the leaves to the floor just to rise them up in a whirlwind.

An orange haired teenage woman looked outside and watched the crazy weather with disinterest.

It had been six months.

Her attention shifted back to the class she was attending, but soon she caught herself staring through the window again. She rested her chin on her hand as she looked to the empty table in the middle row. _Kurosaki-kun is absent again._ She sighed. The same could be said about Rukia and Abarai. Actually the only people who actually went to school lately seemed to be only her, Sado and Ishida. Her eyes moved to the desk two seats away from her. She gulped in silence and avoided the empty gaze of the chair.

It had been six months since _that _had happened. She didn't believe in it at first, she couldn't and she didn't want to; but there seemed to be nothing to tell her it was just a cruel lie, a twisted prank. In fact, every fact pointed to that one truth.

She didn't doubt Tatsuki had felt deserted, alone, betrayed even. Still...for her to try and take her own life? Her Tatsuki would never do that; she would never give up, no matter how down she was, no matter how bad things were, she just wouldn't. Orihime was certain that her best friend would never try to kill herself. She shook her head at the thought that had been haunting her every now and then.

"_What?" her voice had came out in a weird squeal she didn't know herself able to make. Tears had followed almost instantly. She instinctively knew he was not lying. He wouldn't joke around with such a serious issue as the life of another. So, it could only be true. Then the questions invaded her mind. How? Why? When?_

"_It was…an accident…" Asano's voice was low, almost a whisper but in her hunger for information, Orihime believed she would have been able to hear it even if he had whispered it out of her hear range. His voice sounded hesitant, as if he was trying to keep something from being said and she dreaded what that something was._

"_What do you mean, an accident?" Ichigo's voice was worried and the spiritually aware woman was startled by the amount of concern that was explicit in his voice and his reiatsu. But maybe she shouldn't have been. Ichigo had been friends with Tatsuki for much longer than she was. It was only normal he would care. Besides, it was just like Kurosaki to worry so much about his friends._

_Asano Keigo turned around to stare at his hands. She could see he was unsure what he should say next. His hands trembled when his eyes searched for Kojima. When they met, it looked to the orange haired woman that they had exchanged much more than glances of complicity. There was something gleaming in their eyes; something that was directed for both her and Kurosaki. She later realised that that hidden feeling was reproach. They blamed them for whatever had happened to Tatsuki._

"_Keigo!" by now Ichigo was standing. Rukia who had been seating besides him grabbed onto his arm and told him to remain calm._

"_Kurosaki-kun, Kuchiki-san, I would appreciate you kept quiet. You may discuss Arisawa-san's condition after class." The teacher's warning was an ultimate: either they kept quiet or they would be invited to leave the room. She saw how much strength it took him to remain calm and endure the rest of the class. She knew it because she had felt the same way. Never had she wanted for the class to go by quickly as much as she had wanted it that day; and never had the class seemed to stretch in time taking more hours than the usual one._

_Then, the bell rang. Instead of rising from her seat and happily start chatting with someone as she would usually do, she remained seated while most of her classmates left, many of them launching the group that was staying melancholic looks. Even Chizuru abstained from her usual attacks and left without a word. They were alone, all six of them: she, Rukia, Kurosaki, Sado, Abarai and Ishida, only accompanied by Asano and Kojima. _

_Six pairs of eyes stared at Keigo. The boy sighed. It was probably the first time Orihime was seeing something close to being called sadness in his expression. Keigo was always so hyper and cheerful all the time, even though he cried a lot, he never really meant it. It was just part of who he was. _

_The teen stood up and gazed outside._

"_Keigo, would you mind telling us what the fuck happened already?" Kurosaki's voice was controlled and yet the dangerousness in it could be more than heard, felt right down to the bone. His fists were clenched tightly. "What the fuck happened to Tatsuki?" his yell was angered and yet low, which made it all the more frightening. Orihime embraced herself remembering the first time she had witnessed his hollow transformation, a cold chill running down her spine. She had learned to deal with those empty yellow eyes that didn't reflect her. That didn't take away the fact that they still scared her._

"_She was run over by a car." Keigo's voice was clear and loud enough for everyone in the room to hear it. "But…people say…it wasn't…an accident."_

"_What do you mean, it wasn't an accident?" the vizard's hands had flown towards Keigo's collar in an inhuman speed._

"_Kurosaki-kun!" the girl yelped, her hands over her mouth. Both Renji and Rukia had grabbed him and pulled him away._

"_Ichigo, get a grip over yourself." Rukia pushed his right arm._

"_Asano-kun…" Orihime's eyes were glistering with tears ready to fall down. "What happened to Tatsuki-chan? Tell us, please."_

_A hand on her shoulder made her turn around and she unexpectedly saw Mizuiro standing behind her. "The police said…they said that Arisawa-san had…they said she had thrown herself in front of the car."_

Orihime was brought back from her memories by someone shaking her shoulder. When she looked away from the window she noticed the entire class had left and only her, Ishida and Sado were left in the room.

"Are you alright, Inoue-san?" the concern was clear in the Quincy's tone. Once again, she brought out her façade and smiled as much as she could trying not to seem too fake.

"But of course." She stood up and reached for her bag. "Today's lunch is gonna be just great. I brought peanut butter and pineapple jam." This seemed to cause some effect because the dark haired sewing master gave her a small smile before they all left the room and climbed up the stairs to the roof. To their surprise, Rukia was waiting for them there.

"Oh, Kuchiki-san, you're back from your duties." Uryuu pushed his glasses up his nose.

"Have you seen Ichigo around?" the shinigami asked casually as she sat down on the floor and took a juice from her pocket. She stared at the sky. _I wonder when it's going to rain._

"Kurosaki-san? He didn't come today." The Quincy informed as he sat down as well.

"Ichigo missed yesterday's classes too." Sado walked over to the edge of the roof and looked down on the ground through the wire net. Ichigo was definitely upset about what happened. Since that day, something about him had changed. He had become moody and edgy, depressed and angry. Somehow, Sado was sure his friend was blaming himself for what had happened. Keigo's and Mizuiro's treatment to them had also helped. His two friends were hurt. They resented the fact that they had been kept outside the group, even after they had become spiritually aware. And they unequivocally blamed Tatsuki's coma on both Ichigo and Inoue.

_He had been sitting at his desk during the entire discussion. He was never one to interrupt others and even though he cared for Tatsuki as a classmate, he wouldn't be such a liar as to say he was actually friends with the girl. She was Ichigo's friend before any of them had even met him and for that reason, he respected her. But they didn't have what would be called friendship between them._

_Suddenly, things started to escalate. That day had started differently in the morning. He had broken his shoelaces which brought bad luck so he was sure something bad was meant to happen. Then, for the first time since he and Ichigo had befriended Kojima and Asano, the latter one hadn't ran over to the vizard screaming out his name and getting hit. That had been weird, but he had to admit seeing Keigo actually sad was more of a surprise to him. And finally, punctuating all the strange things that had happened, that same Keigo that was always complaining no one cared about him, was yelling at Ichigo with truly angered words._

"_If you hadn't told her that, that she had nothing to do with Inoue's disappearance…" Keigo let out a groan of frustration. "You left! You just stood up and left. So you weren't here to pick up the pieces you scattered!"_

"_Look, I'm sorry about that. But I was trying to…" Ichigo was interrupted when Keigo's hands flew to his collars and he pushed him towards the table, making the orange haired teen fall down. He was too shocked to get up from the floor._

"…_to protect us, right Ichigo?" Asano mocked. "Well, guess what, we would rather have been told the truth. And now, because of your lies, Tatsuki is lying in a bed." _

"_Asano-san…" Mizuiro tried to calm down his friend. Picking his arm he began leading him outside. But Keigo jerked his arm from his grasp. He was about to storm out of the room when the orange haired vizard grabbed his arm._

"_Are you trying to say what happened was my fault?" his voice was low, pained. _

"_It's never only one person's fault." And the teen exited the room. But not before giving Inoue a cold stare that relayed his idea perfectly well. It was only then that Sado decided to intervene. Before his two friends were too far ahead, he left the group to deal with the aftermath of the discussion and he followed Keigo and Mizuiro, being able to catch up with the latter._

"_Kojima-san!" he called out. The other stopped and turned around. He gave him a small smile._

"_Don't worry about what Keigo said. He's just upset about everything that happened. Just wait. With time, everything'll go back the way it was." And with that he turned around and followed Keigo without taking another look back._

Merciful lies. Of course nothing would ever be the same. He knew that and Mizuiro knew it as well. That had just been his graceful way of saying that no matter how much time would go by, things were condemned to never be the same.

Yasutora Sado tightened his grip on the wire net. _Things have certainly changed from back then. For better or worst, is hard to tell. I wonder what would have happened if Ichigo had never met up with Rukia._ Those were thoughts that sometimes assaulted him. He didn't regret having gained the powers he had now. He didn't regret the fact he had chosen to control his powers in order to protect and he didn't regret having followed Ichigo through Soul Society and Hueco Mundo. Nevertheless, in spite of the fact he was happy with his decisions, he couldn't keep himself from wondering: what if…

"Where do you reckon he is, Kuchiki-san?" Ishida's voice brought him back from his introspection. The group was seated in a circle, his place in it had been left empty and he took it.

Rukia took a sip of her juice and seemed to ponder the question for a while before she gave them an answer. "Probably training, and seeing as he wasn't at Urahara's, he should be with the Vizard."

Inoue nodded. "Hirako-san did come here a few months back to talk to Kurosaki-kun, but I haven't seen him since then."

"What about Soul Society?" Sado rested his big hands on his knees as he looked over to the petit shinigami.

"They've calmed down." The black haired woman took another sip of her juice and shook her head with a smile when Orihime offered her some of her bread with peanut butter and pineapple jam to accompany. "When we arrived, Seireitei had already mobilized shinigami, both captains and lieutenants, to travel to Hueco Mundo in order to help us to stop Aizen. But after we crossed back to Karakura, the Gargantua just closed. Not even Urahara has been able to open it." She played with the juice's straw for a bit. "At first, we were all confused and everyone was alert. We were expecting Aizen to attack soon but he never did. Instead, even hollow attacks decreased. In fact, there hasn't been a hollow attack for six months straight. It just looks as if someone locked the door to Hueco Mundo. Yamamoto-soutaichou said he isn't sure about Aizen's plans but he's trying to prepare the Thirteen Squads to a war. But as for now, there is nothing else besides training and preparing that we can do."

"You could say the ball is in Aizen's field." A shunpo was felt more than heard and Abarai Renji landed on the roof of the school. He was in his Soul form and was wearing his shinigami uniform with his insignia of lieutenant on his left arm. His hair was tied up in the back of his head and he had a new pair of sunglasses covering his red-brown eyes.

"Renji you're back already?"

The red haired shinigami sighed. "The taichou wanted me to come back as soon as possible."

The three human friends smiled acknowledging. "I wonder why…" Uryuu commented in low tone. If the female shinigami heard him or denoted the sarcasm on his voice, she refrained from taking action.

"So, what are we supposed to do now?" the fukutaichou asked as he slumped down against the wall around the roof. The group glanced around. That was just about the question of the moment. What were they supposed to do? There were no hollows to fight, no one to rescue and even though the town was in danger, that hazard was just like the clouds floating above them at the moment. It was there, hanging around them, threatening them but as for now, nothing had happened yet.

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens." The quincy replied as wisely as he could sound. And the answer kind of floated around, slowly reaching each of the people present in that roof; their solemn faces adding to the seriousness of the situation. And as if the nature could feel their tension, the wind started blowing wildly again sending Orihime's long orange hair flying around her. She tucked a lock behind her ear and eyed the skies. _When is it going to rain?_

Later that day, when school was over, she rushed out of the classroom to follow her usual path. Carrying both her schoolbag and her umbrella, she walked the familiar road that had led her that first time to the old appearing building where a strong reiatsu oozed away even through the thick barrier someone had raised around it. That time she had used her own abilities to slip into the barrier and there she had found not only Ichigo but the rest of the Vizard as well. However, this time, she was comforted just by sensing the usual spiritual pressure coming from the place. It was just barely there and still it felt thick and heavy. _Kurosaki-kun must be training really hard._ And she continued on her way.

Inoue had learnt to track reiatsu and though she still wasn't very good at it, she had made progresses since the day she had been given those amazing powers. However, she was still young and not in a pejorative way she was as well airheaded and naïve. If she was not, she would have sensed the deep sadness and anger flowing around in just about every spiritual particle of Ichigo's reiatsu.

Her next stop was in another building. This one, however, was almost new and it was huge in the real meaning of the word. She walked through the already familiar door and entered the elevator. Then she stopped at the door that had become too well known for her taste. She had been staring at it for long periods of time in the past six months. She had felt the cold metal of its handle in her skin, the roughness of the white material that built it and the flatness of the glass window that allowed her to see the person lying in the bed inside the room, even before she entered it.

A nurse rushed behind her to another room, her paces echoing through the empty hall. They sounded ghostly, almost like that hospital…no, almost like that hallway was haunted. Shaking the feeling away, Orihime took a deep breath and turned the handler that had been glued to her hands for the past minute.

The room was as simple as they came. The white curtains that adorned the large window, which allowed the daylight in, were waving feebly. Someone had let it open. The girl slowly walked to it and softly closed the window making the lowest noise possible as if trying not to awake the occupant of the room. Then, she sat in the only chair in the entire room, taking in the rest of the room. The white walls looked strangely dark and reminded her of the place she had been at in Hueco Mundo. Besides the chair, there were a couple of medical apparatus, most of which she had no idea which purpose they served. And there was the bed. Lying in it, Tatsuki's face was as peaceful as that of a sleeping person. And she was sleeping, even though this sleep was different from others and no one knew when or if she would wake up.

Orihime took her friend's hand into hers and caressed it softly. Tears were threatening to fall down her face again, but she smiled widely and kept them from shedding. She had always imagined hospital rooms as noisy places. However, the only sound permanently reverberating was the sound of the cardiac monitor tied up to Tatsuki's chest, monitoring her heartbeat rate and blood pressure at all times. There was also an electroencephalograph monitoring the waves of her brain. Then there was a reanimation kit in a mobile car as well as a ventilator.

She looked into Tatsuki's face. The only reminder of the accident shown there was a scar that crossed the right side of her face from her forehead, through her brow, to slightly above her ear level, really close to her eye. The bandages on her head had been removed as well as the ones immobilizing her right arm and leg. Ichigo's father had told them Tatsuki had broken her arm in two different places. She had also suffered from an open fracture of her fibulae and had to go into surgery. Besides that, she had broken three ribs one of them having caused an hemotorax that was quickly resolved. No other internal organs had been affected and her brain had not been hit either..

The doctors had been awed by her sudden recovery. In less than one month her fractures had managed to heal almost entirely, even her broken fibulae, which was the one they were more worried about. It appeared it had never even been broken. Inoue had been careful enough not to heal all her wounds in a radical manner. She had even left the scars.

The last fracture had been healed three months ago and Inoue was sure that by then her black haired friend would have awakened. She had worried about what would happen once Tatsuki woke up; how would things go between them. But until that moment she had never had to face it, because her best friend had remained asleep.

Finally the tears started trickling down her face and unable to keep them from falling, Orihime cried as silently as she could. She tried to concentrate. _Kurosaki-kun said Tatsuki-chan could see him and she knew about us. That's why she was sad, because we didn't tell her. We betrayed her trust._ As she thought this, she tried to concentrate and feel Tatsuki's reiatsu. The substitute shinigami had also told her that her best friend could feel and track her reiatsu and that's how she had known Orihime wasn't in Karakura anymore. So she was trying to reach out Tatsuki's spiritual energy. But there was nothing there, not the smallest amount. She could only feel a soul, nothing else.

She tightened the grip on Tatsuki's hand hoping for something, perhaps that she would squeeze her hand and open her eyes; or maybe just a small movement, something that would make her seem more alive, because at that moment, Orihime felt as if Tatsuki had died and only her body had been left behind as a reminder of what they had lost.

In a way, she was right.

How long the delicate girl was there was forgotten even by her. She had fallen asleep with her head over Tatsuki's hand. The sheets of the bed were wet from her tears and her hair fell over the mattress in disorganized locks. Her breathing was regular but she didn't have a peaceful expression on her face. Perhaps in her slumber she was still aware of her surroundings and that was keeping her from resting. Tatsuki was looking as peaceful as she had been when Orihime had arrived.

It was this way that, an hour later, someone entering the room found the two girls. The closed window was slowly opened, the curtains waved inside the room and parted slightly to allow a darkly dressed figure in. His feet only covered with a pair of white socks and thin sandals rested over the edge of the window before he leaped inside the room soundless. He watched the two figures for a few minutes before walking over to the other side of the bed. Taking the black haired girl's free hand he stroked it gently in his own. In the dying light of the day, his features were dark except for a yellow glow in his eyes.

Kurosaki Ichigo struggled against his will to embrace the person lying in the bed. At the same time, he struggled with the tears threatening to fall. Inside his head, the same set of words were repeating themselves: _You left! And because of your lies…_ he had struggled against those words as well. But the more he had tried to fight them back, the more the truth was carved deep into his heart. _If I hadn't said those things to her…if I hadn't said it…_ his free hand covered his face as two teardrops managed their way from his control and fell over the dry bed sheets. He couldn't afford to let pain and weakness hit him now. Still…

Taking a deep breath, the young vizard closed his eyes, returning them to their usual hazel colour. Slowly he put the girl's hand back where it had been as he bent down to kiss her forehead. It was only when his lips left her smooth warm skin that his fingers eased the pressure on her hand. Then, he flash stepped away from the room, leaving once again the window open.

As he jumped from rooftop to rooftop, his mind couldn't disconnect from the frame apparently so fragile that lied in the hospital bed. He had joked numerous times that with her appetence to get into troubles, he would have to visit her in the hospital a lot. Usually it was around that time that she would punch his jaw just to make him see who he was mocking. "_It's not like I can't defend myself."_ She would say. "_In fact, you're the one always getting your ass handed out to you."_ And she was right. It was far more often for her to save him around that time than for him to actually help her. Never would he have imagined something like this could happen.

The first time had been painful. It had also been the only time he had been there accompanied. They had all gone to visit her: Inoue, Chad, Rukia, Uryuu and even Renji. The atmosphere had been so heavy he swore he had felt the weight of the air on his shoulders as if a captain-level shinigami was purposely leaking reiatsu to subjugate his underlings.

He had thought that the person lying in that bed didn't look like Tatsuki at all. The girl lying there was utterly bruised like a broken doll with bandages just about everywhere. No. He was sure that that wasn't Tatsuki. Not the Tatsuki he knew at least. And then it had hit him: did he have the right to say he still knew her? Arisawa Tatsuki, the first girl to make him cry, the first to lay a punch on him, the first to help him up after she had beaten him up, would never, ever, in any circumstance, in any time or place throw herself in front of a moving car with the intent of causing her own death. Still, there she was; lying motionless, so fragile and peaceful as he had never seen her before.

"_Aren't we friends? Aren't we nakama?"_ They were…or at least they had been. But somewhere along the way, he had thrown that friendship away like it was nothing but a piece of old paper. He had thrown it away, not her. He had been the one saying those words believing she would still be there when he came back and that once he had apologised everything would be forgiven. Those angered words she had shouted at him before almost collapsing in Keigo's grip were the pieces of the friendship he had thrown away. She had tried to keep them together and he had just shattered the already fragile relation with his words. She had been grieving the loss of their friendship.

His foot missed the safe ground and if it wasn't for his fast reactions he would have ended up bursting through the wall of the nearest building. He quickly regained his balance and continued on his way.

The night had taken over Karakura. The black clouds hovering the city had delayed their sentence for another day. A chilly winter wind ran through the empty alleys. The night was silent except for the cry of some nocturnal birds and the occasional car. The city was asleep. As was almost everyone in it.

A pair of feline eyes glowed in the darkness. The slender black cat jumped to the next rooftop and stopped. It glanced over its back. Sitting on its hinder legs, the cat meowed in impatience. "Could you get moving?" Shihouin Yoruichi complained to the one tailing her. "Sitting around and doing close to nothing in that candy shop is making you fat."

"Yoruichi-san, you're being mean." The man pouted as he looked down at himself. "I'm not gaining any weight. And I don't sit around all day long, as you are well aware of." He caught up with her and took the pause to rearrange his brown haori and his hat. "Besides, I have to be careful. We wouldn't want any human seeing me jumping around the rooftops." He quickly added as they started to speed up again.

"You could always have left your stupid gigai behind." The ex-taichou pointed out. The man smiled mischievously. She had him there.

Yoruichi stopped abruptly. "We're here." She announced as she spotted the open window.

"Shouldn't we go through the door?" Kisuke asked as he grabbed a hold of his hat and stopped behind her.

"Where's the fun in that?" the woman replied as she prepared to jump. With a little run and an excellent use of her cat claws, the Goddess of Flash used shunpo and reappeared in the frame of the open window. Shaking his head amusingly, Urahara Kisuke, followed her swiftly. A second later he was inside the room. Inside, besides Yoruichi, there were also two other people.

"You're late, Urahara." A tall man with unshaved face and spiked black hair greeted the blond shinigami. He was wearing the standard shinigami outfit except for what looked like the remains of a captain's robes wrapped around his left shoulder. He flashed the newcomers a grin. "Yoruichi! Long time no see!"

The woman in the form of a cat completely ignored him and moved her attention to the only other person there. Then she looked at him again. "Are you sure about it?" she asked.

"I'm not sure about it. If I was I wouldn't have you come all the way here. I just think it's weird. It doesn't feel like her at all. Besides, where the hell did her freaking reiatsu went to?" the black haired man replied as he scratched the back of his head.

"That is strange indeed. Arisawa-san's reiatsu wasn't that small and for it to just vanish…" Urahara gripped his cane.

"What do you think we should do, Kisuke?"

"There's only one way to see if it's really Arisawa-san in there."

"Are you nuts?"

"Do you have any other way?" Urahara fixed his eyes on the male shinigami. "It may not be the safest way, but it is the only way. So far, we can only feel a soul there. But it feels different from the one it should be. We have to know."

Isshin seemed to be thinking deeply about it for a while. It was Arisawa Tatsuki, Ichigo's best friend since childhood. That is, until Rukia came around. Now he wasn't sure if Tatsuki still held that position, if any, in his son's life. Nevertheless, judging for the sleepless nights, she still meant something. But what if the one lying there wasn't Tatsuki after all?

When he followed his son after his practice with the Vizard the day before, he had been half expecting he would go there. What he hadn't expected was that the vision of the apparently sleeping form of the girl could cause him to actually go inside the room after Ichigo had left. He remembered her. She had been by his son's side countless times through the years. She had been there for him when Masaki died. He remembered her always energetic ways and her strong right hook. And he also remembered the feeling of her reiatsu and when he entered that room, it wasn't her reiatsu he felt. In fact, he didn't feel anything. The only thing inside the body lying in that bed was a nameless soul he could not identify as the one from the girl he had known.

At first, he had tried to think of a reason that would cause someone to lose reiatsu. Reiatsu wasn't like blood. It wasn't lost with cuts and bruises. Could the fact that she was in a coma have something to do with it? He had never seen it happen, but was it possible? Then something else came to his mind. What if that wasn't her soul? Six months ago, things were pretty hectic. Could she have been attacked by a hollow and had her soul devoured? But then there would be nothing. Or could something else have happened? Something that he couldn't even think of?

He needed to know.

"Okay, let's do it."

The permission was given and with a quick movement, Urahara hit the girl's forehead gently with his cane. And then, there was silence, only interrupted by the cardio monitor still connected. Isshin quickly unplugged them. The sound was quite annoying. The three shinigami exchanged glances that ended up on two of them staring at the blond male.

"What?" Kisuke asked.

"Are you sure you hit her?" Isshin crossed his arms over his chest. His figure was imposing.

"Of course I am!" Kisuke quickly assured them.

"Well, then maybe your cane isn't working that well, because I don't see a soul coming out." Yoruichi turned her dorsum on them and in a cloud of smoke took the human form. Isshin smirked while Urahara avoided his gaze and threw her a long t-shirt. "Always the gentleman, Kisuke." she mocked.

After shoving down the t-shirt that barely covered her, she approached the black haired martial artist. "Do you think these things interfered?" the chocolate skinned woman inquired as she slid her hand under the girl's head and started removing the electrodes on her head. As she did, something round and small made its way down the pillow and down to the floor.

Isshin and Kisuke both crouched to take a look at the thing that had just fallen. On the floor halfway between them, a small round yellow candy-like thing lied mockingly. Their mouths opened as Yoruichi looked under the bed as well.

"Is that a…"

"A gikongan?"

* * *

Hello! This chapter was so much fun to write. Specially the final part. I know Ichigo was a bit absent, but, it is for the best. (I think) Don't forget to review.

To the last chapter's reviewers, thank you very much, I'm happy to know you liked Tatsuki and Yammy's fight:

**Akatsuki Leader13**

**Arashihawk**

**Harrharr**

**mmmcereal**

**fan girl 666**

**Yukio Kim**

**MiraResQNU**


	5. Turn Back

Disclaimer: as always, I don't own Bleach, Kubo Tite does.

Second Edition (Nov2011)

* * *

Himitsu

By

Marie Darkholme

**Chapter Five:** Turn Back

Three mouths hanged open in surprise.

"That's definitely a gikongan." Isshin stretched out his hand and picked up the small soul pill. "Did you give her this, Kisuke?"

The blond ex-captain furrowed his brows as he took the pill from the other man and investigated it. "Of course I didn't. Why would I give Arisawa-san a soul pill?" he replied, a hint of outrage in his voice. He rolled the small candy in his fingers.

"Any possibility of having been misplaced?" the black haired shinigami approached to get a better look.

"No. It would be impossible for someone to enter Urahara's Shop without us knowing it." Yoruichi said confidently.

"Besides…" Urahara started as he flipped the pill over once more. "…this is not one of ours."

"It isn't? But then who…" Isshin quieted down, motioning his two companions to do the same. Steps echoed in the hall behind the closed door. They couldn't afford to be caught there. But then he relaxed. It had been such a long time since he had used his soul form that he sometimes forgot that only people with unusually high spiritual power could see them. He chuckled at his own thoughts. Then he noticed Urahara was in his gigai. He smacked his palm on his forehead. "Couldn't you have left the gigai at home?" he complained. The woman nodded in agreement.

"That's exactly what I told him."

Urahara gave them a cheeky smile. Then, with a sudden movement, he took out his gigai, folded it and hid it inside his haori. "Portable gigai. They still need a few adjustments, though." He pointed out. Both his companions sighed. The founder of the Shinigami Research Institute could be such a child sometimes.

"Anyway, we can't take much longer. Once they notice the machines have been unplugged, they'll come to check it out and we wouldn't want the doctors to find a lifeless body lying here." Yoruichi stated out. "You said it is not one of ours? Then, who is it?"

"I wouldn't know until I have a better look at it, but I'm certain it didn't come from my shop nor Seireitei. Actually, if you think about it, there's no way it could have. Our soul pills purpose is to substitute the real soul in the gigai and keep it away from harm as well as to continue life normally as if the owner was in the gigai. If that was the case, the gikongan should have replaced Tatsuki's soul and therefore it would be walking around and going to school and doing her normal life. Instead, her body is just kept alive, making it look as if she's in a coma, but keeping her vital signs normal." He gave another turn to the pill. "I've never seen a soul pill like this one. It looks like its only purpose is to keep the body from degrading."

The two other shinigami glanced over to the girl's body, now soulless. She looked exactly the same, as if nothing had changed, except for the fact that the presence they had felt coming from her body earlier had vanished and was now in Kisuke's hands. And her body had shut down. And she was now dying. Either they replaced the soul pill in her for another or they would have to put back the one they had taken. Otherwise, her body would die in the next few days. That, and the next person coming in, would declare her dead and the body would be buried.

So, they put the pill back in its place leaving only one question unanswered. "If Arisawa-san's soul isn't in her body…"

"…where is she?"

Darkness. And if you closed your eyes and opened them again: yay, more darkness. Darn it! She was just about to get really pissed. How much time had passed? Two, three hours, maybe? She didn't know anymore. When she had first been thrown into that world of complete darkness, she had laughed out loud and cursed her damn luck. It was turning into a nasty habit for her to get locked up in dark weird places. One notable difference from before, though. No matter how much she walked, she never hit a wall. That told her one of two things: either she was in an endless space or she was in a huge box-like space. She didn't know which one was supposed to be the best.

She had ripped her keigoki to make a bandage to wrap her bleeding shoulder. But it wasn't making that much of a difference. It hurt and was bleeding all over. She sat down in the darkness. Where she was sitting she had no idea. _I could just heal it._ She thought looking sorrowfully to her shoulder. _But then Gin would scold me again. Better yet, he would beat me up again. I swear that guy is such a sadistic bastard._

Tatsuki lied down, her arms resting beside her torso, and closed her eyes. _Is Ulquiorra planning to keep me in here for much longer? _ _This just sucks._ She was starting to wonder if he was ever going to get her out of there. Surely he wasn't planning on leaving her like that for days. Was he? She was shaken by the mere thought. Locked up in darkness for more than a few hours was already unbearable and for more than a day…she wasn't sure she would be able to survive that again.

The first time…she didn't even want to remember the first time.

_She had woken up with no idea of where she was or why she was there to begin with. The first thing she felt was a sharp pain on her wrist when she tried to lean on it to help herself up. The first thing she remembered were a distant horn resonating in her ears and a pair of cold green eyes. She stood up to looked around and that's when she noticed it._

_It took a while for her eyes to adjust to the dim light coming from a barred window. Outside it was night. When her eyes finally adjusted and she found herself standing, the sound of something metallic awoke her senses. It was close and it sounded like chains swinging. She looked down to find a short chain hanging from her chest, only about half a dozen links left and they were quickly eating themselves._

_A scream got caught in her throat. She no longer had a body. She had died and now she was in her soul form. And she knew what would happen once those links had eaten themselves completely. A hole would open up in her chest and she would turn into a hollow. Urahara had told them about that._

_She didn't know whether she wanted to cry or simply bang her fists on the walls around her. The room was still very large, at least the size of the dojo she trained in._ I have to find a way out of here. _That was her first thought. And then she evaluated the chances of climbing up to the only window and breaking the bars. _You're not Ichigo, you know? It's not like you have anything to cut them with, or are you thinking of using your nails? _She snarled. Then, she heard the voice again. That voice that sounded like her very consciousness. _You can use me! _It said, but Tatsuki didn't listen to it, because she was shaken out of her thoughts by a loud painful scream. A scream she recognized from the depths of her memory._

She jolted back from her memories. What was in the past wasn't worth dwelling on at the moment. She had a new life, or death, she still wasn't sure which was it, ahead of her. And in this new existence, she was no longer the little helpless and pathetic Tatsuki.

_I remember him saying something about Caja Negácion…now, where have I heard that before._ She struggled to remember. Until it hit her. How stupid could she have been? The asshole wasn't thinking about just punishing her. He was planning on locking her up forever. _Gin once told me that every Espada had something called Caja Negácion which they used to punish their Fráccion by sending them to a separate dimension from where only Espada could get out._ She sat down suddenly, clenching her fists in anger. This only managed to increase the pain on her shoulder. Without thinking twice she stretched her other hand. As she concentrated her reiatsu, her palm glowed in a dark blue light. _There. Just enough to keep it from bleeding. Now to more pressing issues: I have to figure a way out of here._

Standing up, she tried to look around with renewed attention. Still, there was nothing but darkness. _I swear one day, I'm so going to make him pay for this._ She decided to sit back down. There was no point in standing. Sitting over her legs and feet, she straightened her back, rested her right hand over her arched left hand, their back over her hips, and closed her eyes. She could always get a better view of things after practising some meditation, _mokuso_, as it was called in karate practice.

As she fell deeper into her meditation state, her reiatsu started to build up and visibly surrounding her, forming a dark blue aura. She looked like a blue flame amongst the darkness. Her mind went completely blank for that perfect pinnacle of concentration and then she exhaled, expelling her energy in every direction. The blackness was consumed with blue fire that cracked the invisible walls around her, breaking her out of her prison.

Unused to being so drained out, Tatsuki fell helpless on the floor, panting. "What the fuck just happened?" she asked herself as she turned on her back. Only when she opened her eyes did she noticed there was someone standing over her, his large black hakama touching the top of her head, waving against her arrancar mask. She cursed her bad luck inwardly as she looked into his fox shaped features.

"Arisawa-chan!" he smiled. _Hell, he's always smiling. That wicked, frightening smile of someone ready to do some vicious stuff._ The girl thought as she slowly rolled back and tried to stand up. She bowed slightly.

"Ichimaru-san." She noticed his gaze on her shoulder. He moved and stretched his hand to touch it. Tatsuki removed her shoulder from his range taking a step back. "This is nothing."

"Ya've been hurt." His smiled never disappeared as he said this. It looked throughout that he was enjoying her pain. He spiritually pressed her and didn't look surprised when he noticed her already elaborated breath had only augmented slightly. But it had been enough to keep her from making sudden movements, allowing him to grab her shoulder and untie the already loose bands of tissue that felt soaked in blood to the ground.

Tatsuki gulped silently waiting for his next move. She hadn't even noticed where she had ended up, but she realized at that moment that they were still in Ulquiorra's wing. It looked like the teacher had gone to find the student when she didn't show up for her usual class. That told her she had spent over four hours trying to break free from her prison.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the shinigami made a reproving sound with his tongue. "Now, now…I thought I told ya not to go and use your healing powers like that. What'cha going to do, if someone notices it?" He scolded smilingly as he looked carefully at the cut on her shoulder. It had been quite deep, but she had managed to heal it enough to make it into a shallower wound that was just bleeding slightly. He squeezed her shoulder. The girl winced. But then, as suddenly as the pain had come, it disappeared. "I don't think ya'll need to stitch that up." Letting go of her shoulder, he turned and started walking away. "Looks like we'll leave the training for tomorrow. Don't ya miss it, though."

Still a bit out of it, the black haired arrancar looked at her shoulder. The wound was nearly closed and she wouldn't need to do much to it, except for putting a bandage over it. She felt compelled to say something. That had been the first time Gin had ever been nice to her. "Thank you, Ichimaru-san." She said as he disappeared in a corner.

"So, you have managed to get out." A voice said behind her. Tatsuki straightened herself and smiled as she looked into Ulquiorra's lifeless green eyes.

"But of course." She replied. "Did you actually think you could hold me in there indefinitely?"

The Espada's face didn't change. It was utterly annoying that he could always keep up his façade no matter what she told him. Only two or three times, so far, had she actually managed to really annoy him to the point when she got some kind of expression. Usually, he would just act in an utterly calm manner as if nothing bothered him.

"Don't be cocky, woman. You only escaped because that was a modified version of the original Caja. Hope you have used your momento to think through your options. You'll be spending a lot of time there if you defy me again." And with that said, the Quarto Espada walked passed her and left without another word.

Without the adrenalin holding her up, Tatsuki almost fell right there to the floor. Reuniting the last of her strengths, she managed to walk the rest of the way to her new room. It consisted of a small division with a barred window directly in front of the door two metres above head. "Damn this gigantic palace." She cursed as she stumbled across the room. She was feeling really drained. Unable to keep on her feet for another second, she lied down right in the middle of the room. Not that it mattered. The only thing inside was an old rug and a white blanket which served as her bed.

The world spun around for a few minutes. Everything was mixed up, memories from the distant past and the present, along with images of the unwritten future awaiting her. Nothing made sense to her, not in the past and certainly not in the future. She couldn't even gather the strength to keep the tears from falling. And then, the world disappeared and she surrendered to the only darkness she still welcomed.

The night was dark and cloudy as the entire day had been. Still, not a drop had fallen. Instead, a dense mist had descended upon Karakura. There was almost no visibility, the outlines of the houses in front of his just barely visible. It was late in the night and he still couldn't sleep. The air was heavy, cold and humid.

Setting Zangetsu beside him, he lied down with his hands behind his head. He was in a pretty dangerous position, lying down on the roof of his house. Not that he cared. He had left Kon in his body. If anyone came in, it would just look like he was asleep. He had walked around, jumping from rooftop on rooftop for quite a bit of time and had finally ended up in his starting point, the roof of his house.

His mind drifted. As much as he tried to keep those thoughts away, he just didn't seem able to do it.

"_What's with you? I already told you I don't know. Something's seriously wrong with you! What are you even talking about?"_

"_You really thing I don't know anything? I have seen you wearing that black kimono and fighting with all those strange people…! Everything you're hiding, Ichigo…isn't it enough? Just tell me!"_

"_It has nothing to do with you."_

The look in her eyes, more than anger, the thing he could clearly see was disappointment, sadness, rejection. He had caused it with his words. Those had been the wrong words. Everything had been wrong. She wasn't even supposed to have known Inoue was gone. She wasn't supposed to know anything. She was supposed to stay out of it. She was supposed to be safe. And yet…

With the thoughts flowing freely around, he hadn't realized he was sitting, his fists clenches so tightly he had crescent shaped marks on his palms. His hands flied to his face. _She wasn't supposed to have become a victim as well…_

"What are you doing up here in the middle of the night, Ichigo?"

The bright orange haired shinigami didn't remove his hands from his face. Instead he sighed audibly and tried the best to hide his flushed skin. Besides, there was no need for him to look up because he knew exactly who it was that was standing in middle air in front of him.

"I think I'm in a better position to ask you what you are doing here." He replied calmly, his face still covered by his hands. "After all, this is my house." The blond man shrugged his shoulders with a look of disregard and rolled his eyes.

"Just be glad it's me and not Hiyori." He replied with a smile.

"Whatever…" Ichigo said gloomy. By now, his elbows were over his knees and he had sunk his head in between his hands.

Hirako sighed, slightly frustrated. It was beside him why he was there. It had begun by preventing Hiyori from coming over and literally beat some sense into Ichigo's head and along with it, probably destroying the whole neighbourhood. If they were lucky, that is. In her words his head was messed up and needed to be rearranged, Hiyori-style. But as the vizard walked over to his companion's house, he started wondering if it wouldn't have been easier for both him and Ichigo to have just let Hiyori handle the problem. The air around the teenager was so depressing even him was starting to feel dejected.

Adjusting his flat hat on his head, Shinji searched for some words of comfort to say to his friend. But he found none. For the past five months or so, Ichigo had gone to their special training camp everyday, sometimes even missing school to be there. His improvements had been somewhat impressive. He was now able to keep his hollow transformation with the same ease as the rest of the vizard; the use of his hollow's powers had also improved, being now able to launch ceros and balas at will and with a great extent of control in both strength and accuracy.

No, it wasn't the progress Ichigo had made that finally forced the vizard to act. It was his utter state of depression. While in battle, he was fierce and focused more than they had ever seen him. But as soon as the zanpakutou were sheathed and the train was over, his scowl would return. To someone looking from the outside, it might have seemed that it was just Ichigo in his normal scowling face, but once you took a good look at him, you would clearly see the word depression written all over.

Hirako had known, through Urahara, that Ichigo could be a pain in the ass when he was depressed but also that he quickly recovered from it after some butt kicking. _But six months? I would say this is turning pretty much pathologic._

"Look…" he started, unsure of the right way to continue. _This is so much harder than dealing with Hiyori's maniac/depressive cycles!_ He complained inwardly. "We can see that you've been upset for the past few months. I know it must be hard on you what happened to Arisawa-chan…but really,... you need to snap out of it."

"Don't shit chat me, Hirako. It's not like you understand how I'm feeling." Was Ichigo's simple response as he prayed for Shinji to just go away and let him sulk all he wanted by himself.

The blond haired vizard's smile disappeared. "I don't understand? You think I don't know what you're thinking?" he let out a painful cackle. "You're the one who doesn't understand! You think you're the only one feeling guilty for something? You think I don't know what guilt's all about?" he snapped.

It was hard for him to just stand there watching Ichigo drown in his own sorrow. He had felt like that once as well. A long time ago, he had felt like he wouldn't be able to face anyone ever again. Only through the trust of his friends had he been able to partly get over it. Deep inside, he still felt like it had been his fault what had happened to the eight ex-shinigami. But when he started to come out of it, he realised he wasn't the only one dealing with the feeling of responsibility. Urahara blamed himself for not being able to stop Aizen or reverse the hollowfication process. Kensei blamed himself for not being able to protect Mashiro and the rest of the group. The funny thing was that one way or another everyone felt some sort of responsibility for what had happened and no one blamed him for anything.

Shinji allowed himself to relax. Ichigo was looking up at him. His eyes were still slightly red. He had been crying or at least, he had been trying to stop himself from doing it. "It wasn't your fault what happened to the vizard." The substitute shinigami said confidently.

"How can you be so sure about that?" Shinji watched the clouded sky. The fog had started to dissipate.

"Hachi and Mashiro told me a bit about how it happened." Ichigo gazed up as well. "It had nothing to do with you. It was Aizen's fault all the way."

The other vizard smiled, but it was a sad smile. "They were out of themselves way before I was. There are details that might have escaped them."

"Like what?"

"Like the fact that I distrusted Aizen way before that happened and by trying to keep my distance to better analyze him, I was more easily fooled. If I had tried to create some kind of bound with Aizen, I would have noticed it wasn't him following me everywhere."

"Maybe yes, maybe no. You can't blame yourself for not being close enough to an asshole" Ichigo replied, his head hiding between his knees.

"What about you? How are you guilty of what happened to Arisawa-chan?"

Ichigo bit his bottom lip. _All the way…I practically pushed her in front of the car._ He thought bitterly. "I…I said some things to her. And there were things I didn't tell her. If I hadn't said those words…she wouldn't have done it. I still can't believe she actually did it. I mean...you've met her. She's not the type of girl to just…" he couldn't say it.

"Wait! What are you talking about, Ichigo?" Shinji's voice ranged a truly surprised note. "Are you trying to say, Arisawa-chan tried to kill herself?" _Urahara_ _never told us anything about suicide. I always understood it had been an accident._ He thought. _Did he lie to us? Or didn't he know? Impossible. He would have known._

Ichigo tilted his head up. "You didn't know?" he asked surprised.

"I thought it had been an accident. I mean, that's why Hiyori was so pissed off. She kept saying there was no reason for you to believe…"

"…you're God or something, baldy. It's not like you can be in two places at the same time and even if you had been here and not in Hueco Mundo, she would have been ran over just the same." A short green eyed girl took off her sandal and hit Ichigo in the head with it. "Why the hell didn't you tell us it hadn't been an accident?" she walked over to Shinji and hit him as well. "And why the fuck did you lock me up, you moronic bastard?"

"Because I wasn't going to…"

"Shut up!" she smacked him in the head a second time. "You're pissing me off." Then she put on her sandal and grabbed Ichigo by his haori. "Either way, is not your fault, so quit being so fucking depressed about it. You're pissing me off as well." She threw him back onto the roof. "If you don't, I'll have to spank you until your brain is working properly again." She threatened with her small yet deathly fist.

"Still…" Hirako was thoughtful. "I can't believe Arisawa-chan would do something like that." He took Hiyori's sandal from her hand when she was about to hit him again.

"What the fuck are ya doing, asshole?"

The vizard put his hand over her mouth and pulled her to him, locking her in his arms. "That is indeed strange, Ichigo. I would ne-ouch!" Shinji cried out in pain as he removed his hand from Hiyori's mouth.

"Let me go, Shinji!" she complained.

"Would you just shut up." The exasperated vizard shouted. Both Ichigo and Hiyori looked at him in surprise. His face was serious. He wasn't joking around anymore. And it was rare for Shinji to be that serious. "I don't think Arisawa would do that. I don't say she wasn't hurt by what you said to her, whatever it was, but she was over it. Her only interest at the moment was getting stronger. She even tried to get Urahara to train her."

"What?"

"You better get your story straight. Either way, you aren't to blame, so stop sulking around in training. You're a depressing sight and it's starting to get on everybody's nerves." And with this, Hirako disappeared in a shunpo step, taking a very quiet Hiyori with him and leaving Ichigo to ruminate on his words.

A tall man walked around a large balcony with a view to the immense desert that surrounded Las Noches. The night was as silent as ever with a bright moon shining in the sky far above him. Without ever loosing his superior look, Aizen walked to the large chair he usually sat on seconds before a knock was heard on the door.

"Come in." the shinigami authorized in a deep voice.

"Aizen-sama." Two female arrancar bowed respectfully. Aizen smiled briefly. It wasn't respect that these two had for him. It was an uttermost fear. He knew it very well, even though both of them tried their best to disguise it with their always respectful and honourable looks.

"Menoly, Loly, gather the Espada. I have a new arrancar to introduce to everyone." He ordered.

The two arrancar exchanged some confused looks. Of course they would. Aizen was also expecting them to, after all, it was thought that the Hougyoku was in severe shape and couldn't be used to create new arrancar. So, how would a new arrancar suddenly appear? But as expected, they didn't ask any questions. Instead, they bowed and left the room to do as they were told.

The ex-Captain of the 5th squad stood once more and walked over to the end of the balcony, resting his hands on the wall.

"Don't ya think it is still too soon?" Gin inquired as he walked out of the shadows.

"You're questioning my judging, Gin?" the brown haired shinigami's expression didn't change even though his words suggested surprise. But Gin knew Aizen was just testing his nerves.

"Not really. Still, it would be a waste if she got herself killed so soon. She's a very promising student. But she's still not in complete control of her powers. I can't guarantee she won't expose herself. If the Espada find out, they might not like it." He replied calmly.

"Don't worry, Gin. Everything will go according to the plan."

* * *

And another chapter is on. Once again, I hope you've enjoyed this chapter and ask for your reviews either good or bad.

Everyone who reviewed: arigatou gozaimasu.

PS: I do now that not much was said in this chapter, but it had to be written. There were some things I needed to say before continuing with the plot. So, how will the Espada react to Tatsuki's arrival. It's not that they don't know about her. She just hasn't been formerly introduced.


	6. The Only Witness

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. Kubo Tite does.

Second Edition (Nov2011)

* * *

Himitsu

By

Marie Darkholme

**Chapter Six:** The only witness

As always, it was difficult to distinguish between day and night in Las Noches. Inside the palace, it was always day; outside, it was always night. It was hard getting used to it, but by now, the black haired arrancar had completely overcome the weird time changes. When she woke up in what could be called the next morning after having become Ulquiorra's Fráccion she was still sore from her wounds. Her uniform was basically torn apart. She sighed. She would have to get a new one.

Straightening herself the best she could, Tatsuki prepared to exit the room. She needed water and some food. Her stomach was aching in hunger. She hated being hungry. It reminded her of things she thought best forgotten. It was then she noticed there was a basket resting near the door of her room. Someone had anticipated her needs and provided her with food. She was curious for a second as to whom had brought it, obviously it wouldn't have been Ulquiorra, but she didn't dwell over it for long.

Picking up an apple from the basket she distraughtly chewed it to find it completely gone moments after she had begun. Then she picked another and soon the basket was empty of its contents.

Having had her hunger appeased, the arrancar finally left her humble room. The corridors leading away from Ulquiorra's wing were empty and silent, and yet she couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching her. She didn't really care as long as they kept their distance from her.

She had just crossed into common space when she heard a familiar voice.

"You're looking pitiful, Arisawa." Grimmjow stated as he walked towards her and threw a punch to her shoulder.

"Hello to you too." She greeted him with a clean block of his attack.

"You better get changed before the big meeting today." The blue haired arrancar replied as they walked towards the supplies room.

"Big meeting?" Tatsuki inquired.

"Ulquiorra didn't tell you?" the Sexta asked. _To be expected._ He thought to himself. He was curious as to why the Quarto Espada had such a strong feeling of hate towards Arisawa. Ulquiorra was for the most part emotionless, so he was intrigued with his clear display of dislike for the black haired arrancar. At first he had thought it might be because he and Arisawa were sort of friends. But soon he realised it went beyond that. It felt as if there was something Ulquiorra knew and didn't like. The Sexta Espada just wasn't sure if he wanted to know what it was.

"Aizen called a meeting. Apparently it's to introduce the most recent addition to the arrancar ranks. I can only guess he was talking about you." He filled her in as they walked.

"Oh, that!" she exclaimed. "Gin told me something about it, but I had completely forgotten." _Oh yeah! That stupid meeting where Aizen plans to stick a bullseye on my back and show me off. I should expect that after all the trouble he went through to bring me here and make me what I am he would want to put me to the test, along with my loyalty to him. Guess I'll have to put up with it, since there's nothing I can do anyway..._

They had finally reached the supplies' room. It was basically a huge room with lots of shelves furnished with just about anything someone, as part of Aizen's arrancar army, could eventually need. This went for clothes as well. Although most arrancar had some degree of healing, their clothes weren't included i package. That was an ability that, as far as she had been told, only Orihime and her time-space reversing technique manage to accomplish. So, they needed a place where they could store their spare clothes. Of course, each of the Espada had a place of their own. However, the lower ranked arrancar shared a large spot in the supplies' room.

Grimmjow chose to wait outside for her. The black haired quickly sorted through the things inside finding her spare clothes and changing, leaving the torn up ones inside a basket placed there for that purpose. She didn't know what happened to them after it and she couldn't care less about it.

"Took you long enough!" Grimmjow was leaning against the opposite wall to the entrance of the room, his arms crossed over his chest, a scowl on his face. Tatsuki grinned.

"A girl has to take her time."

"Where to now?" the Espada asked as he pulled himself off the wall. He was asking just out of habit since they both knew where they were going Espada had a personal wing where his and his fracción's chambers where located. They also had the right to a large room to which they could do as they desired. For Szayel that room had been turned into his gigantic laboratory. Grimjow however had chosen to turn his into a training room. He usually fought wherever a fight happened to occur, but the room was great for training with his previous fracción. In normal circunstances, Tatsuki would never be allowed to go into the Sexta's wing, since she was Ulquiorra's fracción.. However, because they had been training there way before she had found herself forcefully under the Quarto Espada's command that was still their usual training place.

"You know," Tatsuki started as they reached the room. "I've just changed into this uniform and we do have to be presentable in less than four hours so…be kind to me."

Grimmjow smiled evilly. It had been a while since the last time they had both been there. Too long for his taste. He liked to spare with Arisawa. Fighting her sometimes reminded him of his fight with Ichigo and that caused a mix of feelings. Although he had hated to lose, he had throughout enjoyed the all out fight. It wasn't that the young black haired arrancar was as strong as Ichigo. She still had a long way to go before she could reach him. It was the way she fought that sent out that feeling.

"Oh, I don't know about that." he replied as he unsheathed his sword. "I'm in the mood for some heavy ass kicking. Besides, after seeing you spar Yammy the way you did yesterday, I want to test your new skills."

"Do we really need to go all out with the zanpakutou and everything?" she sounded more than anything else bored. "I was hoping we could do some hand-to-hand combat."

"You only want to do hand-to-hand combat because you know that's probably the only thing you're better than me at. But don't forget that the shinigami mostly use zanpakutou in combat. Only two are experts in bare hand close combat." He waited for her to unsheathe her sword as well.

Tatsuki sighed. He was right. She only wanted to have that type of fight because she knew she was better at it than him. _And he's right again with the sword being of much more popular use amongst the shinigami. According to Gin there are only two shinigami really using hand to hand combat: Shihouin Yoruichi and Soifon-taichou from the 2__nd__ squad. Of course he "failed" to mention if any Espada used this method._ Without being given any other choice and knowing perfectly well she needed to improve her sword-fighting skills, the black haired girl unsheathed her katana.

"I've just noticed!" Grimmjow exclaimed. "You changed it."

Tatsuki raised an eyebrow for a second before realising what he was referring to. "Oh, that! Well yeah, it troubled me too much the way it was. I had thought about it before but just couldn't think of a good way to put it. But I think it might work better this way."

The thing Grimmjow was referring to was the place where Tatsuki's zanpakutou was being held. Formerly she had it vertically hanging at the side of her waist like most arrancar did, but now she had changed it and her zanpakutou was resting horizontally, just a bit in the diagonal on her back at her waist level, the handle to her right side. Fortunately for her it didn't look too weird in that position since her sword was the size of a wakizashi; one might even say that her zanpakutou wasn't really a katana but a wakizashi. The way it was now didn't impair her movements as much as it did while freely hanging from her waist. Another thing she had changed had been her sandals, which had been replaced by white kung-fu-like shoes.

Grimmjow couldn't wait to begin that fight. Using sonido, he appeared behind the still unprepared arrancar and attacked with a descending blow. According to his expectations, his sparring partner blocked with ease his zanpakutou disappearing in her own sonido.

The black haired woman shook her head, trying to keep her hair behind her back. The long hair was certainly something she wasn't used too and even if her hollow mask kept most of it in place, there were always a few locks trying to get in her face. She blocked another attack from Grimmjow and quickly counterattacked with a forward blow. The Espada avoided it using sonido to appear a few metres away, quickly followed by the female.

"Your sonido is way quicker than it used to be." He complimented her by sending another head-chopping attack. The only difference between this combat and a real fight was that neither of them had the intent to kill, which changed completely the consistence of the attacks. They were made in the same speed and strength as if they were really fighting for their lives, except for the fact that they were in complete control of their movements, able to stop them if they were aware the other wouldn't managed to block or escape the attack. Still, accidents happened.

The match went on for over an hour and half. Nevertheless, both fighters were still completely pumped up. It had turned out into a sonido/sword fight. Basically, both used a fair amount of sonido to try to sneak on the other as well as avoiding possibly disabling blows. Between each sonido their zanpakutou would meet three to five times before they changed positions again. Neither of them could be said to be on the winning route since both had had similar opportunities and openings.

If Tatsuki was amazed at how better she had actually become, now being able to perfectly keep up with Grimmjow's sonido, he, on the other hand, was more interested in finding the right way to push her a little further. If he could find the right switch, he could make her release her zanpakutou, something he had wanted to see for a long time now. And if she kept her pace, it would soon become something worthy of a real fight with him.

Tatsuki managed to make a sonido to Grimmjow's back. He blocked the attack placing his zanpakutou behind his back. Unfortunately for him, he got too close. Unable to control her urge, the girl gripped his wrist and with more skill than strength sent him flying towards the ground.

A smirk appeared on Grimmjow's lips as he stood and dusted himself off. "I thought we had agreed no hand-to-hand combat?" he asked. Sheathing her zanpakutou back in place, Tatsuki grinned, a hand scratching the back of her head.

"Sorry about that. My hand just kind of slipped for a sec." She apologized. Still, she knew he was just mocking her. Although he had fallen on his back, he was barely touched by her attack.

"Slipped, huh! You're such a bitch!" he complained as he too sheathed his sword. "It was a mildly good warm-up." Grimmjow stuck his hands in his pockets and started walking away.

"Mildly good? Did you forget you just had your ass kicked, moron?" she replied amused with his attempts of irritating her as she quickly followed him outside the training area. She found herself truthfully smiling. She always felt good when she fought Grimmjow. He was always tough, never holding back. Of course she knew the fall had just been a slip on his part and wouldn't give her the sliest advantage if they were really battling. In a real fight he would beat her to a pulp.

_If he knew, I wonder how much time it would take for him to kill me._ She wondered. The Sexta Espada was the only arrancar in Hueco Mundo until now to actually be nice to her. Well, they had started with the wrong foot but her fearless attitude and his spunky manners had gotten through both their defences. In such a strange and different place, Tatsuki was amazed to actually find someone she could identify with. Still, in her mind, there was no doubt that if word got out of what she truly was, the Sexta Espada would be the first in a long line to kick her ass. She could only hope he would never find out. She knew, however, how improbable that was. One day, she would have to expose herself and after that, she wasn't sure she would have a place to go.

They were walking to their usual spot to relax when they were intercepted by two female arrancar. When the two of them spotted the pair, Tatsuki could clearly feel the fear in the air around them.

"Aizen-sama is requesting the presence of the Espada in the meeting room." Menoly informed, her voice clearly shaking. Her green eyes didn't dare meeting the Sexta Espada's cold blue ones. He snickered.

"I thought the meeting was supposed to be in two hours…?" Not that he really cared what time it was, it just bothered him to have to answer to Aizen. The arrancar flinched. Tatsuki grinned. It was actually kind of funny to see someone practically breaking down just from mere fear.

"Aizen-sama just asked us to call the Espada." Loly replied. "And that is what we're doing. If you don't want to go, then don't." the girl replied rashly even though she was shaking. Menoly pushed her companion's arm. The look on her face was a clear message for Loly to back off. Grimmjow's grin widened in a way that would sent shivers down anyone's spine. He removed his hands from his pockets and snapped his knuckles. Tatsuki decided it was time to intervene.

"Am I supposed to go as well?" she asked. Could it be that Aizen had changed the hour of her introduction and she hadn't been informed about it?

"How am I supposed to know?" the black haired arrancar crossed her arms over her chest in a defensive position as she shrugged her shoulders. The next second she felt herself being lifted and pinned against the nearest wall. She gasped when she saw who was holding her, a hand over her neck, only a slight pressure applied, but hard enough to send the message over. She looked over to Menoly. The spiked blond haired girl was glued to her spot. After Grimmjow had killed her and the human witch had brought her back, Menoly had never been the same again. She was just dead scared of the Sexta Espada, but not as much as she was of the human girl who had been their _guest_ a while back.

_Just our luck!_ She thought. _First we got to handle that human freak and now we're basically being looked down by every damned arrancar. Even this newbie thinks of us as trash. _

Tatsuki tightened the grip on the arrancar's throat. And she actually felt good doing it, even though she was sure she shouldn't. "Well?" she whispered. "Can I have an answer now? What is the meeting for?"

Loly gulped. "To…introduce…the…new…arrancar." The girl managed to say between gasps.

"And guess who the new arrancar is?"

"You…" The dragon masked girl loosened her grip on Loly, who fell down gasping for air, and walked back over to where Grimmjow stood. "Well, that wasn't so hard now was it?" she mocked as both her and the panther started walking away. A strange feeling of bloodlust nagged her thoughts. For a second there she had actually thought about killing Loly.

The light entering through the closed window was barely existent. That was due to the fact that outside was still dark. The morning had started just a few minutes ago and the sunrays couldn't get through the thick layer of clouds that had accumulated during the night, adding to the ones that had already been there before. Once again, Karakura awoke to a gloomy clouded sky.

Ichigo's hand flew to his alarm clock just a moment before it started beeping. Turning it off, he quickly swung his feet off the bed and started undressing himself. Unlike the previous days, this time he had no difficulty getting awake and instead of sluggish, his movements were utterly determined and firm. His mind was clear and for the first time in six months he had a clear purpose. He slipped into his school uniform and prepared his books before he grabbed his shinigami badge from the first drawer of his desk and hit it over his chest.

He managed to hold his body just as it was about to fall down to the floor with a possible thud and placed it over the bed. Then, he opened another drawer and removed a sleeping stuffed lion from it. Kon was about to start complaining about Ichigo interrupting his beauty sleep when Ichigo slammed the badge on him, removing the small green pill and inserting it into his body's mouth.

"What the hell was that for?" Kon yelled as soon as he found himself in Ichigo's body. The orange haired shinigami covered his mouth.

"Shut the fuck up!" he ordered as he tried to shut him up and listened for any sound. "I'm going out, but I need you to go to school for me. I can't keep cutting classes." He informed the mod soul. Kon's eyes acquired a golden gleam. _Nee-san…Orihime-chan…_he started to drift off. Ichigo promptly slapped his face.

"Get a grip! Don't you dare do anything weird or I'll hand over your body to Yuzu so she can prop you up like last time." He threatened, a smirk appearing on his lips. The mod soul's silly grin disappeared as he gulped in silence. Sometimes being in Ichigo's body could be a pain in the ass. He wasn't able to do anything fun, had to go around with a scowl on his face for the entire day and it was damn dangerous. That reminded him of the last time Ichigo had lent him his body. At that time he had been attacked by a huge hollow which had been killed by no other than Ichigo's goofy father, Kurosaki Isshin. And then Urahara had popped out of nowhere and made him promise that he wouldn't tell Ichigo about it.

"Alright, but where are you going? Just in case nee-san asks?" Kon sat on Ichigo's bed as the shinigami slowly opened the window and climbed on it.

"Just tell her I had some business to attend." He replied before jumping over to the roof of the house in front of his. Kon still managed to see him for a few seconds as he jumped away from rooftop to rooftop before the substitute shinigami disappeared in shunpo.

"Damned Ichigo, leaving his body to me like this." The mod soul complained as he stood up and walked to the door. As he turned the handle and opened it, Isshin's fist went flying towards his face. Kon backed away only to fall flat on his butt.

"Mm…so Ichigo left his body on your care?" the shinigami replied as he probed the air around him. His face wrinkled in concentration as he absently scratched his chin. He was wondering where his son could be going so early in the morning leaving his body with Kon. If he had been going to meet the Vizard, he would usually take his body. That meant something else was up. He had sensed Hirako's reiatsu late the night before. He had probably be trying to put some sense into Ichigo's head. His thoughts quickly went back to their finding the previous night. Urahara said he was going to try and investigate the soul pill they had found in Tatsuki's body. Things were quickly becoming strange.

_I wonder what happened to Tatsuki-chan's soul. There's no way she has been eaten by a hollow. There have been no hollows in Karakura since she became comatose. Besides, the fact there's a gikongan in her body suggest her soul was removed from the body. But…I don't even want to think about the possibility that this has something to do with Aizen. Taking the soul of a person who could become a shinigami in a near future…I just hope I'm wrong. Either way, if Ichigo finds out, he's going to go berserk._ He sighed.

They had met up at Urahara's to discuss their findings and it had become clear that the possibility of Tatsuki's soul having been taken to Hueco Mundo was vey real. Everything matched up. It had been six months since the last time they had felt anything hollow related. The last time had been the day of Tatsuki's supposed accident. Then, Ichigo and the others had returned and the gate to Hueco Mundo had somehow been sealed be someone on the other side.

He didn't want to be right about that, but his guts told him he had hit the bullseye. The scariest thought about it at that moment wasn't if Tatsuki had been taken by the arrancar but the thought of what had become of her. Aizen was prone to make experiences. And the girl's soul would be an excellent specimen to add to his collection of experiments.

He shook his head trying to keep those thoughts away. There was nothing he could do at the moment besides waiting. Pushing away his worries, the middle aged man walked down the stairs that led to the kitchen where his daughter Yuzu had already started making breakfast for everyone, helped by Rukia, his son's shinigami friend. He grinned to both of them as he took his place at the table, followed swiftly by his other daughter, Karin, and Kon.

A few blocks away, Ichigo stopped on top of a familiar roof. He had walked that path enough times to be able to do it with his eyes closed. He tried to concentrate. From the room, the unfamiliar presence emanated no reiatsu whatsoever. He knew she was spiritually aware. She had told him. Keigo had told him. Urahara had told him as well. But he hadn't expected her to ask Urahara to train her. But he should have. He smiled to himself. It was Tatsuki, and she wasn't any ordinary girl. She wouldn't allow them to leave her in sideline if she knew there was a way she could help. She had to fight as well. That had been one of the reasons why he had never told her anything. He had hoped that just this once, he could be the one protecting her and she would stay out of harm's way. He had hoped that she would accept to sit back that one fight. How stupid could he be, really? That was the thought of someone who didn't really know Tatsuki.

When he jumped inside the room, he was surprised to see he wasn't alone there. Because it was early in the morning and his friends were at school, he had thought he could be alone to do whatever he thought he had gone there to do. After all, Tatsuki was in a coma. It wasn't as if he was going to get any answers from her.

The girl quietly sitting on the chair glanced over to him and flashed him a sad smile. His eyes quickly looked her over. She was a ghost, the chain on her chest left no doubt about it. He walked over to the opposite side of the girl. She was holding Tatsuki's hand in her petit one. This girl knew Tatsuki somehow.

"You're a shinigami, right?" she asked sweetly as she watched his black robes and huge zanpakutou. Her long black hair was falling loose over her back and she had big brown eyes with which she kept staring at him, waiting expectantly for an answer.

"Yeah, I am!" Ichigo finally replied with a smile of his own.

"Are you Tatsuki-chan's friend?" again, she went straight to the point. And again, the shinigami complied. He leaned against the wall. The girl's eyes diverted back to the motionless form in the bed. "Do you know when she's coming back?"

Ichigo was startled. "Coming back?" he asked confused. "What do you mean, coming back? She's right here."

Ayumi smiled and shook her head. "You're silly!" she chuckled. "This is her body, but I'm asking about her soul. I mean, when she was ran over by that car, her soul popped out of her body. I thought she had died." The girl's eyes darkened for a moment. "If she had, I wouldn't have anyone to talk to again. It made me sad." She looked down for a second before returning her eyes to the sleeping figure. "But she didn't. I keep wondering when she's coming back."

Ichigo's mind raced. _Her soul popped out of her body? Like what happened with Inoue when they were attacked by her brother?_ He wondered. "But you know, even if her soul came out, she would have to return, otherwise her body would have died." He explained.

The girl shook her head vehemently. "No, no. She didn't. Her soul isn't here. I saw it."

"What? What did you saw?" Ichigo felt his heart racing. Something was happening; there was something he had missed, something he hadn't seen. "Was her soul chain broken?" he asked, taking a sudden step forward.

"No. Well, not in the beginning." The girl quieted again.

"Look, you need to tell me what you saw." The substitute shinigami tried his best to keep his voice calm and under control, even though he felt pretty much like he was about to lose his coolness.

"Tatsuki-chan was run over by a car. I really don't know how. One moment she was by my side, then she disappeared and then she was in front of the car. And then, the guy who wanted to talk with her was there and took a big sword and cut off her chain, put something in her body and took her soul with him. That's why I'm telling you she isn't here. I come here every day to see if she has returned, but she hasn't." a tear rolled down the girl's face, but Ichigo was too out of it to notice.

"A guy? What guy?" he had jumped to the girl's side and was holding her shoulders a bit too hard. The girl winced.

"You're hurting me." She rubbed her arms when the shinigami released his grip and again tried to keep his cool.

"Sorry." He quickly apologized, smiling. "But this is very important. I need you to tell me what the guy you saw looked like and what he wanted with Tatsuki."

The girl nodded, a small smile appearing again. "I don't know what he wanted. He just approached me and said I had Tatsuki-chan's scent on me and asked me to go get her, so I did. He was a bit scary with his cold green eyes. I hadn't even noticed he carried a sword."

Ichigo froze. Time stopped. He couldn't move. He couldn't speak. He couldn't even think. Two words kept repeating themselves in his head, over and over again; a name. _Ulquiorra_ _Schiffer._ It had happened again.

When Grimmjow arrived, the Espada were already gathered. His first glance was over to Ulquiorra. The Quarto Espada was sitting at his usual place on Aizen's left side with his usual expressionless face. The panther faced the other while he walked over to his place. He and Arisawa had decided to arrive separately. He couldn't really understand the reason for it since the Espada would probably already know about her from her fight with Yammy, but the female arrancar had insisted that it was for his own good.

Yammy was sitting at the end of the long table looking rather annoyed. He couldn't see a real reason for the new arrancar that had kicked his ass to be introduced as if she was one of the Espada. Wonderweiss hadn't had an introduction like that, then why would that little bitch be any different?

As for the rest of the arrancar, they were for the most part quiet. Zommari Leroux, who sat by Grimmjow's side, was in his usual contemplative state. Barragan and Aaroniero Arruruerie were both motionless at their respective spots. Halibel remained silent, her arms crossed over her chest. Stark rested his chin over his hand with a bored expression. Szayel Aporro Granz had an anxious look behind his thick pink framed glasses. He was eager to meet this new arrancar who had been created with the debilitated Hougyoku and beaten Yammy.

The only other Espada besides Grimmjow who showed any hint of impatience was Nnoitra Jiruga. The tallest of all the Espada was playing his fingers over the table, glancing occasionally to the door that the three shinigami usually entered through.

"I heard this new arrancar kicked your fat ass, Yammy?" the Quinto Espada stated more than asked. The red haired Espada hit his fist over the table.

"I don't know who told you that, but I was the one kicking the bitch's ass. If it wasn't for Ulquiorra I would've killed her." He shouted loudly, getting slightly flustered.

Grimmjow chuckled. "Killed her? You were the one who almost got killed. She might not have ranked as Espada yet, but she's way over your league." He laughed. It was pathetic how Yammy tried to convince himself and the others that he could easily win against the new arrancar. Ulquiorra remained silent. He wasn't about to get his hands dirty because of the Decimo Espada's stupidity and lack of discernment.

With Grimmjow and Nnoitra mocking him, Yammy was ready to get physical in order to show them he wasn't weak, but he was interrupted by the arrival of Aizen, Gin and Tousen. As always, the three shinigami entered as if they had always belonged in Hueco Mundo's as its rulers.

"Good afternoon, my dear Espada." Aizen greeted in his usual way as he took his place in the chair at the head of the table. Immediately the Espada fell silent. It was this utterly huge power that Aizen had over them, the Espada, that annoyed Grimmjow. They were supposed to be at the top in Hueco Mundo's ruling chain, only overpowered by the great Vasto Lords. Still these three arrogant shinigami had arrived and took over. And each of them was powerful enough to defeat several Espada on their own.

"I've evoked you all here today so I can introduce you a new fellow arrancar."

_For once he didn't stall the meeting with useless talk._ Grimmjow thought to himself slightly surprised. Something told him this meeting had more to it than what they had been informed.

As soon as Aizen had finished his sentence, the door opened and Menoly and Loly walked through it, Tatsuki between the two female arrancar. She walked in a steady pace not showing any hint of anxiety, but Grimmjow could tell she was nervous. She had confessed it to him earlier before they had headed towards the meeting. It was her first time getting face to face with so many Espada and she didn't feel comfortable with it.

Of course Tatsuki had managed to leave the real reason behind her discomfort out of the discussion.

When she entered, she was, once again, surprised by the simplicity of the room. It held nothing more besides the long oval table where the ten Espada and Aizen sat. Tousen and Gin were standing behind Aizen as if they were his bodyguards. Tatsuki felt as if she had just entered a secret meeting being held by the Yakuza. And she was an undercover agent.

Still, she managed to keep herself in check as she walked to place herself exactly behind Ulquiorra's chair. Her superior didn't even give the sliest sign he acknowledge her presence. _Stupid asshole._

"This is Arisawa Tatsuki-san. She's Ulquiorra-san's new fráccion and I hope you treat her as one of your own." He smirked in a rather unpleasant way. Tatsuki flinched. The way he had said _one of your own_ made her sound as an outsider. It felt as if he wanted them to think she wasn't part of the group. She glanced around the table.

She had heard from Gin about everyone present there. Gin himself was there, a grin on his face as always. But there was something about his body language, specifically the position of his hands that told he wasn't comfortable about something. She glanced around. The only female Espada remained motionless in her spot. She was an intriguing Espada in Tatsuki's list. She didn't know much about the blond arrancar. In fact, Gin hadn't told her much about any of the first three ranked Espada. Halibel, Barragan and Stark were somewhat a mystery to her.

Then there were the ones she had heard more about. Nnoitra; Grimmjow classified him as a sadistic, conceived asshole who doesn't know the true meaning of winning a battle. He was looking at her with the eyes a hunter gives its prey before setting a trap. Her first impression was: _I hope I never have to be alone with him._

Zommari; his eyes were fixed on Aizen with such concentration one might think he was casting him a spell. Yet, she had heard from Gin he was very fateful to Aizen.

Szayel; she had heard little about this guy, but what she had been told had been enough for her to make up her mind: this was one person she definitely didn't want discovering about her. Gin had called him the Espada version of Kurotsuchi Mayuri, and for her that was enough reason to keep a safe distance from him, which meant, the least they bumped into each other, the better. At that very moment, he seemed to be trying to analyse her. She looked away.

The only Espada left, besides Yammy, who she had not only met but fought as well, was Aaroniero. She was amazed he was still alive. Somehow, he had managed to survive after he had been almost killed by Rukia. Personally she had nothing against Aaroniero but he had tried to kill Rukia and the black haired shinigami was her friend. So now, he was on her black list.

She was so entertained watching the Espada that she hadn't been following the conversation.

"…five of the present to Karakura Town." Aizen had just said. The mention to Karakura was what caught her attention.

It had been around six months since she had arrived to Hueco Mundo. And so far, Aizen had kept his part of the deal they made. He had allowed her friends to live. And for six months, the Garganta had remained closed so that no hollow could enter the real world. But now he was talking about sending five Espada to Karakura. She knew that what she had bought by coming to Hueco Mundo was only time for her friends and not a permanent pass of safety.. Six months had been more than she had expected and she could only hope that it had been enough for her friends to get stronger; strong enough to defeat the Espada and Aizen.

"And which of us are going?" she heard Grimmjow's excited voice. She was worried. The panther had talked to her several times about his memorable battle with Ichigo and his eagerness to meet him in combat sometime soon. He always talked about beating up Ichigo as payback for their last battle. But Grimmjow wasn't the only problem.

"Well, the ones going are Yammy, Zommari, Nnoitra, Ulquiorra and Arisawa."

"What?" Tatsuki, Nnoitra, Grimmjow and, amazingly, Ulquiorra exclaimed with utterly surprised expressions.

* * *

Anyway, hope you've enjoyed the story. The moment everyone's been waiting for is coming. Tatsuki is being sent on some kind of mission to Karakura. Will she go? Does she has an option, really?

Thanks to all the people who reviewed chapter five. I wanted to thank personally each of you but this time it won't be possible so I'll do it in the next chapter.


	7. She's Dead

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. Kubo Tite does.

Second Edition (Nov2011)

* * *

Himitsu

By

Marie Darkholme

**Chapter Seven:** She's dead

_I can't believe this is happening. Of all the things he could imagine; of all the things to say…I just wasn't expecting this at all._ So many thoughts crossed her mind and so fast that she quickly got utterly confused. She tried her best to keep up with the conversation still developing. Aizen was explaining the details of his plan, but all she could think was that she was going to be sent to fight her friends and that there was really nothing she could do against it.

_Think! Think! Think, damn it!_ She wanted to send Aizen for a walk but the more she thought about it, the more she realised she had no way around it.

If she said no, what would Aizen do? It was obvious that he knew she wasn't exactly on their side and her compliance depended on her friends' safety. Would he kill her permanently if she didn't obey? That wasn't so bad considering what she had been through. In fact, she often wondered why he kept her around, why he had taken her, of all people. She was a wild card and he knew it. But if she was dead, she wouldn't be able to help her friends anymore. And now that she had finally managed to get strong enough to actually make a difference, she couldn't just throw away six months of hard work.

But should she fight them?

She could always keep herself in sufficient control as not to harm them. Still, she had to be careful not to raise suspicion. Aside from Ulquiorra, the Espada didn't know about her human connection. If she held back they could notice. Still, she couldn't just beat her friends as if they meant nothing to her.

What was the best course of action? Did she stand a chance? She couldn't afford being discovered by either side. As far as Ichigo and the rest of the gangue were concerned, she had just died in a car accident. They definitely wouldn't expect her as an arrancar and her change of style could work in her advantage.

Nevertheless, she would be fighting alongside with Yammy, Nnoitra and Zommari. The first two were the real problem. She couldn't risk being exposed in front of them. But if she went to fight her friends with the idea of getting back alive, she would probably need more than her unreleased state.

She was brought back to the meeting room when she heard her name being called. It was Grimmjow. The Sexta Espada was furious, to say the least.

"What the hell was that all about?" he shouted as they crossed the large doors to the outside. The meeting was over; Gin had dismissed her from training and at the end of the day she would depart to Karakura.

"I wish I knew..." she replied still absent minded.

"Sending that imbecile Yammy and that degenerate of Nnoitra, and yet not allowing me to go?" he punched the nearby wall. The material gave away leaving a hole in the place where seconds before Grimmjow's fist had been. He ran his hand through his hair. Subconsciously, Tatsuki emulated his gesture running her hand through her hair and combing it with her fingers. She was nervous. She was really, really nervous.

"Yeah, whatever." Once again, her answer came without thinking. The blue haired Espada stopped to stare at her.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" he burst out. Tatsuki who was walking behind him was so out of it that she almost bumped against the Espada. He gripped her shoulders. The girl seemed to finally notice she wasn't the only person walking around. "You should be jumping around in joy! After all, you're actually going to kick some shinigami butts instead of just hanging around doing nothing."

The dragon avoided his eyes. There had never been a moment when she had wished she could tell him everything more than at that time. She needed to get that weight off her chest; but she couldn't. And she was actually afraid that staring him in the eyes would make her spill something out.

_What is this? What is this? I'm caving in again. I'm caving in…_she could feel the tears starting to gather in her eyes. "Yeah, you're right. I'll be sure to kick Ichigo's butt for you." She smiled faintly. But the Espada didn't buy it. He slammed her against the wall.

"What the fuck is wrong with you, woman?" he shouted. She could tell he was furious. And she could understand why. She was going and he wasn't. Ulquiorra was going and he wasn't. Nnoitra was going and he wasn't. Nevertheless he couldn't screw up again under the penalty of being demoted from the Espada and probably killed. Therefore he felt like spanking her.

His hand fell over her neck and he gripped it tightly. Tatsuki smiled. "Going to kill me, Grimmjow?" her voice was calm and collected. But her eyes betrayed her. She wasn't ready to die. Not yet.

_What is this? _Grimmjow asked himself. He tightened his grip on her throat, but the dragon kept smiling. And he couldn't bring himself to actually hurt her. He released her and his palm met his forehead. "What's happening?" he asked her unsure if the question was directed at her or to himself. "What's wrong…Tatsuki?"

Tatsuki raised her head, surprise plastered all over her face. Had he just called her by her first name? That was…new…and weird.

_What the fuck is wrong with me? ...What the fuck is wrong with Grimmjow?_ She asked herself. Her right hand rested over her face, slightly covering her right eye and she chuckled. _What is wrong? Is not like me to dwell over things like this. I have no option. I have to go. And once I'm there, I'll do everything within my power to keep everyone as safe as possible. It's not that difficult._ Her laughter increased in both volume and intensity. _I don't have to do nothing special. I'll just do what I know: I'll cause havoc. __**Yes! Havoc, Tatsuki-chan…causaremos la destrución…[we'll bring destruction]**_

The Espada was eyeing her curiously. When she finally stopped laughing, she straightened herself. "Nothing's wrong." She finally said.

"Are you sure? That was one crazy act you pulled on me…" he asked still perplexed by her reactions.

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"Well then, you go there and don't let Nnoitra kill Ichigo off before I get a chance to fight him again." Grimmjow patted her playfully in the shoulder.

"I won't." she said with all her confidence. She'll do anything she had to do. Even if it meant she would never see them again. Even if it killed her.

Later that day, everything was ready to the departure. Aizen was standing next to the gate the Espada usually used when going on mission. The five chosen to go were standing by.

"My dear arrancar." Aizen smiled as he opened the Garganta. Tatsuki pushed down the remains of her hollow mask, slightly completing it so that it covered her eyes. "Don't fail." And with those words, the five disappeared through the gate.

In Karakura town, time suspended. A slit appeared in the sky parting the heavy rain clouds. It was around five in the afternoon but it was already dark. Five arrancar stepped out of the gate just as it started raining.

Kurosaki Ichigo froze on his track. Five huge reiatsu, arrancar-like reiatsu, had just appeared. Two of them were familiar. He faced the sky as he instantly grabbed his shinigami badge.

Inoue Orihime and Kuchiki Rukia were searching for cover under a building when they realised the presence of the five arrancar. Swallowing a gikongan, Rukia ditched her gigai and ordered her to get the grocery to Inoue's house as the two set out in the direction of the reiatsu they felt.

Sado Yasutora mirrored the sky and told his rehearsal partners he had forgotten his cellphone at school.

Ishida Uryuu pushed his glasses up and closed his mathematics book, placing it softly over his desk as he stood up.

Abarai Renji leaned the broom with which he had just been sweeping the floor against the wall of Urahara's Shouten and took his gikongan from his pocket.

"Is this reiatsu…?" Shihouin Yoruichi stood up and looked through the window.

"It certainly feels like it." Urahara Kisuke replied putting down his tea cup.

"Should we interfere?"

"Not just yet."

Asano Keigo dropped his schoolbag. "Did you felt that?"

Kojima Mizuiro looked up into the sky. "Is the same as that day." He replied. "You think we should go check it out?"

The brown haired teen slowly picked up his schoolbag. He swung it over his shoulder and watched the darkened sky as well. It had started raining. "Let's do it!"

"It's not him!" Hirako Shinji replied coolly when Hiyori stood from her spot. The vizard cursed under her breath and lied back down. "Let the shinigami handle it for the time being."

Tatsuki looked down upon the city. That was a view she had never had the privilege of seeing before. Not that the view mattered to her at the moment. She stretched out her senses. Everyone was on the move, quickly making their way to where they were. According to plan, they divided into two groups: she was in the same group as Nnoitra and Ulquiorra while Yammy and Zommari headed the other way.

She took a deep breath. They were heading towards the place where three reiatsu were combined: one human and two shinigami. But she could also trace a fourth spiritual energy quickly approaching them from behind. By the looks of it, they were heading straight to Ichigo, Orihime, Rukia and Renji, which meant Sado and Ishida would have to face Zommari and Yammy. _Not the worst match, I believe._ She tried to relax. If she was worried about every one of her friends it would be difficult to concentrate on her own fight. She had to believe in them and in their own strength.

"Hey, Arisawa!"

Tatsuki turned around to face Nnoitra. The Quinto Espada was eyeing her curiously. "What?" she yelled back rather annoyed.

"Try not to get chopped into slices." He laughed openly. The girl clenched her fist.

"You two stop acting like children." Ulquiorra stopped in front of them. His hands neatly placed inside his pockets. Nnoitra looked away. "We have a mission here. Don't get off track. Besides, they're here."

And he was right. Just as he finished, two people appeared in front of them; to be more accurate, two shinigami, Rukia and Ichigo. The dragon bit her bottom lip. _This is it! The battle is about to start._

"Kurosaki Ichigo." Ulquiorra turned around to stare at the vizard.

"Ulquiorra..." Ichigo snarled the Espada's name. He was clearly pissed off. His hand reached to his back and the white stripes of tissue surrounding Zangetsu untied themselves. He pointed his zanpakutou to the Quarto Espada's throat. "Today is the day I'll beat you."

"I don't have time to waste on trash like you, Kurosaki Ichigo." Ulquiorra used sonido to step a few metres away from the group but the substitute shinigami interposed himself in the Espada's way.

"You won't go anywhere until you answer me." Ichigo shouted. Rukia eyed him surprised, while still cautious for any movement from the two unknown arrancar. However, the two also seemed to be interested in Ichigo's discussion with the Quarto Espada.

"Where is Tatsuki?" Ichigo shouted at Ulquiorra, his blade inches from the Espada's face.

Tatsuki flinched. He knew. But how? Apparently Ulquiorra didn't look surprised by this. But Nnoitra was. The Espada took a step forward. "What the fuck? You know him?" he asked her.

"Never met him before." She replied dismissively in a low voice, afraid that Rukia might overhear their conversation.

"What have you done with her? I know it was you who took her." Ichigo continued. Ulquiorra opened his mouth to talk but Tatsuki was quicker to reply. Flash-stepping to stand between Ichigo's sword and the Espada, she pushed Zangetsu away with a movement of her unsheathed zanpakutou.

"Ichigo!" Rukia was about to move to where her shinigami partner was when Nnoitra brought down his tall crescent shaped blade to stand right in front of her. This gained the black haired shinigami's attention.

"No, you don't bitch." He licked his lips. "Nnoitra Jiruga, Quinto Espada. Just so you know who's going to kill ya!"

"Don't talk like that to Ulquiorra-sama." Tatsuki shouted. The words sounded so wrong coming from her mouth. She had never addressed Ulquiorra like that, ever. The Quarto Espada seemed rather amused by this and the dragon felt like to cut his throat. "Your fight is with me."

Ichigo's eyes flared in anger. "I have no reason to fight you. Step aside, my business is with him."

"I'll handle this. Do what you have to." She whispered back at Ulquiorra who disappeared from his spot. The vizard was about to follow but once again, Tatsuki stood in his path. "Like I said…your fight is with me."

Ichigo brought down Zangetsu in a descending blow completely blocked by the arrancar's zanpakutou. He observed her. Her uniform was slightly different from the usual arrancar. In fact, if it wasn't for the inverted colours, her uniform resembled more that of shinigami than arrancar. Her hollow mask rested over her head slightly covering her face. She also had what appeared to be some type of lizard blue and white scales under her eyes. But he could neither see her hollow hole nor her rank number. _Maybe she's not an Espada._ He reasoned.

"Are you an Espada?"

"No. I'm Ulquiorra-sama's fráccion." She replied, the bitterness clear in her voice.

Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "Well, either way, I have no reason to fight you. Just back off. He kidnapped my best friend and I need to know where she is."

_Ichigo! Stop being such a stubborn bastard. For once act more like you used to before you started lying to me therefore more action and less talk. What do you want me to say so you can fight me?_ And then it hit her. He knew she had been taken by Ulquiorra but he didn't know what had happened to her. And so, she said the only thing that would possibly make him fight her.

"I've killed her."

"What?" Ichigo's face was that of utter disbelieve. He was looking at that arrancar whose name he didn't know and she was telling him that she had killed Tatsuki but he couldn't believe her.

"You need a hearing exam?" she shouted. "I've killed Arisawa Tatsuki. The bitch was worthless to us so I killed her."

Tatsuki watched his reaction carefully. He couldn't say he didn't have a reason to fight her now. She had just given him one. She had killed herself. She smirked, slightly amused, even though the situation was serious. In a way, she wasn't really lying to him. The thing she was now…she couldn't call it Tatsuki. It was something else; something she couldn't name. The person who had been Arisawa Tatsuki had transformed into what she was now, something completely different. So, in a way, she really had killed Arisawa Tatsuki.

The air around her started to feel heavier. The rain had started falling harder now and Ichigo's hair was completely soaked, falling down over his eyes. She couldn't help noticing how cute he looked with his hair like that. Her own hair and clothes were drenched. Although her long hair bothered her, she was for once glad she had let it grow. It was probably the only thing keeping Ichigo from recognising her. Well, that and her hollow mask.

"Alright. I can see you're not going to let me pass by so I'll fight you." He held out his zanpakutou in front of him. "Still, I don't believe a word you've said. Tatsuki's alive. I'm sure of it." The white tissue around the handle strapped itself around his right forearm. "I'm sorry, but I'm not going to hold back. BANKAI!"

One thought: _Shit!_

"Tensa Zangetsu."

Even before the light and smoke around him had cleared, Ichigo flash-stepped towards the female arrancar, barely giving her anytime to dodge his attack. Tatsuki gasped when his blade scratched her face. She stepped back with sonido and raised her zanpakutou to block his second attack. She managed to successfully block it. But it was followed by two other; the first one she dodged while the second she blocked and tried to counterattack. She managed to put him at her hand range and she took the opportunity to grab his right arm and punch his face with the hilt of her sword.

The shinigami backed away a bit with the force of the impact. She had managed to almost break his jaw. But he quickly regained his balance and charged against her again. Her sonido was fast and she was either avoiding or blocking each one of his attacks. Still, he knew he had the advantage, since she evading him had been the only thing she had been capable of doing so far.

"You seem too good to not be an Espada." He replied when she blocked one of his attacks and grabbed her hand. Tatsuki charged a cero with her left hand and directed it at his face. He released her to escape the cero, moving to her right side and charging again. "Were you lying when you told me you were Ulquiorra's fráccion?"

The black haired arrancar moved away from the attack. _Unfortunately no!_ She thought but didn't say it out loud. His attacks seemed to be getting faster by the second and she was having too much difficulty dodging them. She quickly glanced around. They were over the city. She could feel Orihime's reiatsu down there, as well as Rukia's and Nnoitra. They weren't far enough. Still, if she didn't do it, she would be killed by her own friend.

"Getsuga Tenshou!" a compact amount of reiatsu in the form of a fang was moving towards her all of a sudden. Without any time to dodge, she immediately knew she was going to be hit by it. The only thing she could do was try to avoid major damage. In order to do that, she launched a cero which absorbed half the impact force of the Moon Fang. The rest was absorbed by her body as she fell down from the sky landing in the middle of a playing field.

She struggled to stand. A large cut crossed her abdomen, having ripped through her gi and exposing her skin and partially her bandaged chest. She coughed some blood. _Shit! At this rate I'll be dead before I can be of any help._ _When I told him to fight me I wasn't expecting him to go all bankai on me. Asshole._

Meanwhile, Ichigo had come down and was standing in front of her landing spot.

"Retreat. I don't want to kill you." He tried to reason her.

"I cannot." Tatsuki replied as she stood from her spot at cost. "I guess I can't keep hiding anymore." She thought out loud. And she placed the palm of her left hand over her abdomen. Performing kidou in the middle of a fight wasn't a good idea since it depleted you of some of your spiritual energy. Nevertheless, she couldn't fight for much longer with that wound, so it was something she just had to do.

The shinigami eyed her movements astonished. _Is that…is she using kidou?_

"If you're going to fight me at your best, I have to do the same. Otherwise, I'll be killed." She replied. Her wound partially healed, she stood straight and reached for her zanpakutou holding it upward with her arm against her leg so the blade was leaning against her bandaged right arm. The loose thread hanging from her elbow started wrapping both her arm and the blade of her zanpakutou. And then…

"BANKAI!"

Not too far away, Rukia was trying her best against the cocky Quinto Espada. Nnoitra had yet to release his zanpakutou and so far, the shinigami had managed to handle him without moving to shikai, but she could feel she was quickly running out of options. As soon as he released his zanpakutou she would be in deep trouble.

"Hadou 4: Byakurai!" the black haired shinigami shot a massive lightning from her fingertip but Nnoitra avoided it with a smirk over his lips.

"Is that all you got, shinigami?" he boasted as he made a descendent blow with his crescent shaped scythe-like weapon. The girl made a close dodge as she casted another spell.

"Hadou 63: souren soukatsui!" two consecutive shots of blue fire flew over to where the Espada was before he dissipated both of them with his double bladed zanpakutou.

"You're going to die soon unless you do something else besides launching inoffensive fire balls." Nnoitra mocked her before he launched three bala in her direction. Rukia avoided the first three, getting hit by a fourth bala. She crashed into the cement pavement below them. A cut in her forehead started bleeding over her left eye. She wiped the blood to her sleeve as she stood up. Nnoitra was slowly making his way to her.

_Where is Renji when you need him?_ Rukia inquired herself. She could feel the red haired shinigami's reiatsu. He was on his way, but she could only hope he hurried. This Espada was obviously out of her league. _I'll have to buy some time before that dumbass arrives._

"Mae, Sode no Shirayuki." She recited. The most beautiful zanpakutou in Soul Society had been called upon. Rukia's katana turned white and a long white silken ribbon appeared at the hilt, seeming to dance in front of her. "Some no mai, tsukishiro!"

A large circle was quickly drawn on the floor under the Quinto Espada and everything started freezing inside that circle, Nnoitra included. The Espada, however didn't seem too worried when Rukia's ice started freezing his legs. Before the ice had reached his waist he made it shatter with an outburst of reiatsu that sent Rukia down to the floor again. He laughed as he approached the fallen shinigami.

"Tsugi no mai, hakuren!" cried Rukia and a large wave of ice exited the tip of her blade. Nnoitra deflected most of it, getting only a small scratch on his cheek that quickly disappeared. His smiling figure approached the black haired shinigami. "Hadou 1:s…" she was interrupted even before she completed her kidou spell. The Espada gripped her throat so hard that she was forced to drop down Shirayuki. She struggled to breathe.

"You're no fun, shinigami." Nnoitra complained as he tossed her to the ground.. "I might as well kill ya." And with that, he brought down his scythe.

Fortunately it was intercepted and deflected. Angered, Nnoitra searched for the one who had inconveniently intervened.

Standing on the rooftop of a house, Renji recollected Zabimaru. "Leave her alone, you filthy Espada." He yelled out.

Nnoitra laughed. He quickly evaluated the strength of his new opponent. He licked his lips. The one who had appeared seemed to be at least worthy of his time.

"Who are you to call me filthy, shinigami scum?" he rested his weapon over his shoulder.

"Abarai Renji, 6th Division fukutaichou." He informed as he tried to evaluate the arrancar standing in front of him. He didn't look strong, still appearances could be deceiving and he had just defeated Rukia. He should be well ranked.

"Oh, yeah, I remember you." Nnoitra smiled widely. "You were the one fighting Szayel." He replied, remembering the report from the invaders. "Nnoitra Jiruga, Quinto Espada." He stuck out his tongue to prove his rank. "Don't make me waste my time and fight me at your best level."

The Espada jumped over to the rooftop of the house in front of Renji. The red haired shinigami glanced over to Rukia. She was leaning against the building and he could feel Orihime quickly making her way to where they were. Now he just had to get the fight out of there so neither of them would get hurt. Before Nnoitra had the time to release his zanpakutou, he launched Zabimaru against him. It hit him square in his shoulder but to Renji's amazement, no wound resulted from it.

The laugh of the Espada resonated in the night. Not too far away, Renji could feel Ichigo's reiatsu and hear the sound of metal clashing. _What the fuck? I'm sure I just hit him._ He thought as he pulled back his zanpakutou.. _But there's not even a scratch on him. _

"You're wondering why your attack didn't affect me. Well, the reason is quite simple. My hierro is the strongest amongst the Espada. Nothing can cut me." The arrancar boasted.

Renji smirked. "You're not the first saying that before he gets hit. But let's cut the crap and get down to business. BANKAI!"

"That's more like it; Inore, Santa Teresa!"

Sado was running through the empty streets. The rain was falling harder and he was drenched. He could feel his friends' reiatsu. Ichigo and Rukia were both fighting. The others were on the move. The same could be told about two arrancar going in his direction at the moment. Also, Ishida was coming towards him as well. He stopped. Suddenly a red energy ball came flying towards him. Taking out his Brazo Derecho de Gigante, he managed to completely block out the cero.

It was then that the two arrancar that had been approaching appeared. The giant immediately recognized one of them as the arrancar that had almost killed Tatsuki before both him and Orihime appeared more than half a year ago. It was in that moment he realized he needed to get stronger if he was to continue helping Ichigo and protecting his friends.

"It looks like you've learned some tricks since the last time we met." Yammy jumped down from the sky to stand right in front of Sado. The human remained calm. It was time to discipline the Décimo Espada. Still, there was another one standing on the sky above them and there was no way he could fight them both at the same time.

"It seems you could use some help." A familiar voice said next to him. Ishida has just appeared there from apparently nowhere. His hirenkyaku was probably very close to Ichigo's shunpo. He stood proudly in his Quincy uniform, his pose always serene, analysing the enemy carefully.

And so the battles had begun:

Tatsuki vs Ichigo

Nnoitra vs Renji

Zommari vs Ishida

And Yammy vs Sado

Through the nightly sky, the clash of swords could be heard between the sounds of the rain drenching the town. Of course that was only truth for those who were spiritually aware. And that was the case of two friends who crept in the shadows and approached the on-going battle between two of their friends. At the time, however, their attention was concentrated on the one they knew to be their friend, the orange haired vizard. Albeit the fact that they had blamed him for the events leading to Tatsuki's supposed suicidal attempt, they couldn't truly cut the connection that tied them to him.

In other words, they cared about Ichigo, whether they chose to show it or not.

* * *

Another chapter is up. Hope you've enjoyed it. This probably wasn't what you were expecting. but I hope you've liked it nevertheless. Don't forget to review, pwease!

For the last reviewers: **AkatsukiLeader 13; fangirl 666; Yukio Kim; shea-aeront; xSTALKERx**

Thank you very much. You definately make my day.


	8. Cover Blown Up

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. Kubo Tite does, so don't sue me. This is just fanfiction...

Second Edition (Nov2011)

* * *

Himitsu

By

Marie Darkholme

**Chapter Eight:** Cover blown up

"BANKAI!"

The shinigami watched in a state of shock the scene unfolding in front of him. Who was this arrancar? Was she a vizard, like him? Or was she an arrancar with a twisted release form? Was she mocking the shinigami by calling her resurrection bankai? Whatever she was, there was no doubt in his mind that she had just used shinigami abilities. The wound he had inflicted on her abdomen had partially healed after she had performed what he could only explain as being kidou. Until now, he had never heard of an arrancar who could heal like that.

"Sangai no Shikyo Hiaoi" ((Havoc's Blue Flame of Death))

Her body had been obscured from his view due to the dust from the playground swirling around but he could feel her reiatsu rising. And then, the dust finally started to set, revealing her new form. Similar to his own bankai, her clothes had changed and she was now wearing a long white sleeveless haori, similar to those wore by the Captains of Soul Society, except that hers had no diamond shaped forms on the bottom and instead of a squad number, the back had imprinted a Chinese blue dragon. The scales visible under her eyes had disappeared and her hollow mask had acquired blue tones in the horns. The haori was connected in front of her chest, slightly revealing the bandages covering her thorax and her navel. Her forearms were still tied up but her zanpakutou had disappeared and was nowhere to be seen.

"What the hell are you?" Ichigo asked as he contemplated her. She looked strangely familiar, but he was sure he had never seen this arrancar/shinigami before. The girl smiled sadly.

"I wish I could answer that question, but I don't know myself." She replied. _What am I indeed...that's probably the question I've done to myself more often lately. Am I an arrancar? Even though I have a resurrection and a mask, I have no hole. And I can't control my mask even having it showing entirely if I want to, even though it makes me lose control of it more easily._

_**Who are you calling an it?**_ An angry voice exploded in her head. She tried to suppress it. No, she was definitely not an arrancar. Still, because she had a hollow inside her, she wasn't a shinigami either. And because she was able to perform a resurrection, she wasn't a vizard either. So, what was she really?

_**You're the chaos.**_ The voice replied in a mocking tone. _**And if you just let me out, I can finish him off for you!**_ _Guess what? That's exactly what I don't want, you freaking hollow._

"Is that your released arrancar form?" she heard Ichigo's voice between her inner fight. That hollow was getting more and more annoying by the day. Of course that releasing her bankai had only approached the two of them. Gin had told her that she should refrain from using her resurrection, because the moment she did it, she could lose control of her hollow forever and never be able to return to being herself.

"No. This is my bankai." Tatsuki replied.

Ichigo evaluated her reiatsu. There was something familiar about that girl's spiritual energy. The way it fluctuated around, it was like she was burning the air and everything around her. He pushed those thoughts away. He had to go after Ulquiorra and get the truth out of him. And the only way to do that was getting pass the arrancar in front of him.

He made his move, but the second he did, she disappeared from her spot. He felt her presence behind him and turned to hit her, but she had already moved again. Her shunpo was fast, faster than he had anticipated. Still, she couldn't beat the student of Shihouin Yoruichi, Goddess of Flash. He quickly adapted to her rhythm and tried to surprise her with an attack at her front. To his astonishment, she blocked Tensa Zangetsu's blade with her bare hand.

"How the…?" the words disappeared half the way when he noticed she hadn't exactly blocked the blade with her hands but with her zanpakutou which had suddenly reappeared. The blade, however, had changed, has had the hilt. The white hilt had lost its guard being continuous with an extremely thin blue blade that he soon realised to be made out of her reiatsu.

Then, as suddenly as it had appeared, the blade was gone again and Ichigo fell forward unbalanced being immediately pushed back by a knee neatly placed on his face. Before he could react back, Tatsuki kicked his chin with her heel followed swiftly by a back kick to his stomach and a high kick that sent him flying through the wall delimitating the playground area. She then used shunpo to stand right in front of him and jammed his body against the wall of a building with a heel kick to his chest.

Ichigo fell down to the ground the moment he hit the wall gasping for air, saliva dripping from his mouth. That had been a nasty kick. It had completely left him out of breath for a few seconds. That sequence of movements...Wh the hell was that arrancar. She was clearly an expert when it came to hand-to-hand combat.

Tatsuki stopped when her friend fell down on his four trying to breathe. _Maybe I overdid it._ She worried. She had been sure Ichigo could handle those kicks. They had done it many times before in karate practice. Of course that, by then, she wasn't inhumanly strong. Still, he had become pretty tough himself.

She was relieved to see him smile as he stood up. His bottom lip had a cut and it was clear that his face had been beaten up. _Nothing that he can't handle._ She thought.

"You hit pretty hard for a girl." He smirked. For the remark, Tatsuki punched him in the face again. Only after doing it, she realized the familiarity of the gesture.

Ichigo was watching her carefully. His facial expression told her he had recognized it. He had established a similarity, and that was bad. Very bad. She flash-stepped away from him but Ichigo followed her. "Who are you?" he asked firmly.

Meanwhile, a few blocks away, two other fights were taking place.

After throwing a number of bala and several cero at his opponent without any effect, Yammy quickly concluded that the previous named trash by Ulquiorra had now become something worthy of a fight and without being able to land a definitive punch in the tanned young man in front of him, he decided it was time to take out his zanpakutou.

The huge sword was easily handled by the huge arrancar who aimed an attack to Sado's torso. The Mexican jumped backwards, avoiding the hit, preparing himself to get offensive.

"El Directo!" a sudden burst of reiatsu exploded from his clenched fist hitting Yammy squarely on his chest.

The Décimo Espada backed a few steps but seemed for the most unbothered by the direct hit. His Hierro had been slightly burned and he was irritated by it, but no more damage than that had been done. Sado, however, wasn't thrown down by the fact. He was actually sort of expecting it. The hit had just been a way of testing the arrancar's durability.

"You're trying to beat me with that thing?" Yammy laughed gutturally as he took another swing at Sado's figure. The human easily avoided it and gathered his left arm's armour.

"No, but I will with this one." He replied. "Brazo Izquierdo del Diablo. La Muerte!"

Yammy was sent flying in the opposite direction throwing down three street lamps before hitting against the wall of a building severely injured, his mask over his jaw cracking in the middle; his face was that of utter disbelief, hatred and pain. This was the second time in two days he was being beaten by some low level fighter. First it had been that female arrancar which had so suddenly changed her personality. If it hadn't been for Ulquiorra's timely arrival he would have been done for.

In his current position, he found himself wondering where he had seen her before. He was sure he had seen her somewhere, in a different situation. Why the hell had she suddenly become Ulquiorra's fracción? Although the Espada had known that a new arrancar had been created, only six months after had they gotten to know who she was. In fact, except for a few months before when she had started hanging out with the stuck-up Sexta Espada, she had been completely off the radar. His pesquisa might suck big time but he was still able to feel the other arrancar's reiatsu around and hers had disappeared for a few months.

"You better retreat now, arrancar, otherwise, I'll have to kill you." Yasutora said as he approached.

Yammy laughed as he stood up and dusted himself off. He limped from an injured leg and his coat had been turned into shreds. He disposed of it, exposing several cuts over his chest and abdomen.

"Hmph, I'm just starting." He replied as he prepared to continue his fight.

Not far away from them, Ishida was quietly evaluating the strength of his opponent who until that moment had remained in silence. The arrancar seemed to be pretty strong, but he wasn't sure if he was stronger than his latest opponent, Szayel Aporro Granz; although going by his large built the Quincy estimated he was more into strength than speed. His hollow mask consisted in spiked fragments over his head and a collar. His face was deeply serious and had a rather vicious look.

"Which is your rank number?" The Quincy asked as both of them stood over opposite roofs.

"Zommari Leroux, Sétimo Espada." The arrancar introduced himself. "You don't look like a shinigami."

"That's because I'm not." The Quincy replied proudly. "Ishida Uryuu, Quincy."

"Of course. You were one of the five that entered Hueco Mundo." The Espada quickly acknowledge. "Your kind also likes to slay Hollows because you believe us to be purely evil." He stated. And like that the time for talking ended.

When the Espada disappeared from his sight, Uryuu took out his bow, Ginrei Koujaku, and prepared for any attack that might come. Then, all of a sudden, instead of one Espada, he had two standing at opposite sides of him. How could it be? Were there two Espada or was he seeing double? Then he noticed how the images of each of them were slightly blurred. Using Hirenkyaku he moved to send two arrows, each directed at each one of the images. When they disappeared and reappeared briefly after in a different spot, he smiled.

"Your sonido." The Quincy stated. "It is actually so fast that you can create two afterimages of yourself. Still, you can only be in one place at a time."

"Gemelos Sonido. And it is not limited to only two." The arrancar added before increasing his sonido and almost magically making appear five images of him surrounding Ishida. The Quincy, though, seemed to be expecting it, judging by his unfazed expression.

Zommari made the first move, but the Quincy managed to barely escape his first two attacks before he got hit by the sharp blade that came from the third afterimage of the arrancar.

"Pride blinds you, Quincy." The arrancar replied with a serious face.

Uryuu walked away from Zommari and shot several arrows against the images, but, as expected, none of them reached its target. He moved again to escape the Espada's attempts and was forced to take out his Seele Schneider to block one of his attacks that would probably be disabling. But he knew he wasn't as good of a sword fighter as he was an archer.

Using Hirenkyaku, he was managing to keep up with the arrancar's speed, but just barely. A little more and he wouldn't be able to keep up at all; it would be the end for him. Also, he wouldn't be able to keep himself at such speed for much longer.

Fortunately, his trap was finished.

"It's not pride, arrancar." He smiled. "It's intelligence." Picking one of his silver tubes, Gintou, he slipped the liquid into the ground, which provoked a huge explosion. The Quincy's Sprenger technique was difficult to set up but once ready it was very powerful, so Uryuu was pretty confident that as long as he managed to get the Espada inside the circle of the explosion it would cause enough damage to slow him down. He was, therefore, utterly surprised when he saw Zommari coming out of the smoke, for the most, unhurt.

While Ishida and Sado were fighting, Ichigo was giving chase to his running opponent. His question had been answered by Tatsuki bringing out her zanpakutou again and making a descendent blow to his left shoulder that Ichigo blocked before she flash stepped away again. Without much effort he followed to the rooftop of the next building where she attacked him once again with a circular kick that he blocked with his left hand before she raised her right foot and kicked him in the face making a back somersault to land a few feet away and disappear yet again.

"What's the problem in telling me your name? You arrancar are always so eager to tell us, why are you any different?" he yelled after her. There was something fishy going on. Everything that had happened until then…if it wasn't for the fact he was fighting an arrancar, he would've have said he was fighting Tatsuki. The punch was the exact same thing that had happened the last time he had made that remark after she had defeated him. Was it a coincidence? He wanted to think it was, but he didn't believe in coincidences. Could this arrancar really be Tatsuki? If she was, what had they done to her? And why was she fighting him?

"I've already told you my rank. The rest doesn't matter." _Why the fuck did I do that? I guess you can call it involuntary reflex but I should've stopped myself._ _**You just completely gave yourself away, Tatsuki-chan.**_ Her hollow took the moment to mock her and get her even more anxious.

She used shunpo to try and escape Ichigo. It was far too dangerous to stay for too long around him. She should have let Nnoitra fight him instead. Which reminded her to check how Rukia was doing against the Espada; Tatsuki wasn't too sure if the shinigami's shikai was enough to handle the Quinto Espada and even though they had orders not to kill, Nnoitra wasn't that trustworthy.

As she investigated the reiatsu around, she quickly noticed it wasn't Rukia who was fighting Nnoitra anymore, it was Renji and he was pretty beat up. She rushed to where they were when she noticed something else. There were two people following them. Two people that shouldn't be there. _Fuck! What are those two morons doing around here?_

A few blocks away, the red haired shinigami had tried to take his battle elsewhere, but the Quinto Espada just hadn't let him slip by. He was taking advantage over the fact that Rukia and Orihime were still there to beat up the fukutaichou. Even though he was at his full power in his bankai form, Renji was almost defeated. He was at the limit of his stamina.

_Fuck this! No matter how many times I cut those arms of his, they just keep growing back again. For an arrancar, he was smart enough to keep his hollow's freaking healing powers._ As he thought this, another of Nnoitra's arms was regenerating from another successful bite by Hihiou Zabimaru. The snake head at the end of Renji's zanpakutou spit the Espada's lost arm. Most of his attacks actually hit Nnoitra, he couldn't inflict enough damage seeing as the Espada was just too quick regenerating himself.

On the other hand, Nnoitra's attacks were being quite successful in injuring the red haired shinigami. His body was battered, his shinigami uniform was quickly turning into shreds and most of his hair was falling over his shoulders.

"Getting tired shinigami?" Nnoitra sniggered before throwing a cero in Renji's direction which he couldn't dodge because Rukia and Orihime were hiding behind Santen Kesshun in the same direction as the cero and he wasn't sure if the shield could hold it. Using the different segments of his Hihiou Zaimaru he created a sort of wall in front of him. The wall seemed to hold for a while before it collapsed and Renji got hit by the remains of the cero. But the shinigami held his ground and launched Zabimaru against the Espada.

"Higa Zekkou!"

Nnoitra twirled his six blades, managing to avoid the majority of the segments from hitting him, only a few passing through his guard. But the arrancar kept smiling widely. He always did when he fought someone. The adrenalin, the rush of being under near death experiences was all he asked for. And that rush, he could only get it by fighting strong adversaries.

It was around that moment that Tatsuki landed on a rooftop two or three buildings away from the one where Orihime and Rukia were taking cover while the orange haired human healed the shinigami.

Ichigo quickly caught up to her. He grabbed her arm and tried to restrain her, but as soon as has he did, Tatsuki jumped behind him, breaking her arm free and punching his face when he turned around.

The orange haired spit some blood and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. It was difficult to have a hand-to-hand combat when one of his hands was taken by Tensa Zangetsu. The arrancar was about to shunpo away but the shinigami caught up with her in middle air. Grabbing her from behind, he pressed his blade over her neck, twisting her arm behind her back. He could feel the girl's reiatsu fluttering as he pulled her against him.

Tatsuki shivered. Her back was pressed against his chest and she could feel his warmness against the fabric of her haori. She could feel Ichigo's breath over her neck when he spoke. His voice was calm and softer than she had expected.

"Tell me your name." This wasn't said in a demanding, authoritarian tone. She realised at that moment that all he really wanted was a confirmation. But she couldn't give it to him. She didn't want to. To say it was to finally admit she had betrayed her friends, even if she hadn't been given another choice.

"I can't." she whispered. She closed her eyes, knowing perfectly well that she could break the embrace at any time. It was simple, a bakudou or just releasing Sangai would do it without causing any damage to Ichigo.

The thing was she found herself not wanting to break it.

Twelve floors under them, Keigo and Mizuiro stopped in the corner completely out of breath. Following Ichigo had been a nightmare. His flash steps only paused for short moments to cross swords with the girl he was tailing. Still, the two friends felt like they had had to follow them, as if something important was about to happen and they had to be there. There was just something about the reiatsu fluttering around that felt familiar.

Meanwhile Nnoitra was getting fed up with his fight against Renji and was eager to get his blades across someone's throat, even though he had orders not to. He first felt Arisawa's reiatsu quickly approaching and wondered what the hell was she doing invading his battlefield. Then, he felt Kurosaki Ichigo's spiritual energy. And finally, two tiny sparks seemed to follow the latter. Now that would be amusing to see.

With a sonido, the Espada disappeared from Renji's sight. The shinigami launched a quick look behind him.

"Go Renji. Inoue and I will be fine." Rukia shouted from behind the shield. The red haired lieutenant did just that and flash stepped after Nnoitra.

Renji could see the cero forming in the hands of the Espada but he was oblivious to whom he was pointing it. It was then he noticed Ichigo restraining someone, but the cero wasn't pointed at them either. It was pointed at the floor. When he realized who was standing on the street completely defenceless his body stiffened to react but it was too late.

Ichigo looked behind. Something was going on. An Espada was standing a few metres in the air above them. He felt the energy concentrating in the arrancar's hand before he noticed Renji's spiritual energy. And suddenly, his arms were forced behind his back.

"Bakudou 1: Sai!" and his prisoner skydived from where they were at amazing speed.

The cero was fired; two bodies were projected away in the midst of a large red and blue explosion that resonated through the entire block, shattering the windows of several building in the radius.

And those two bodies were no other than Mizuiro and Keigo, Ichigo realized with shock. Both him and Renji quickly flash-stepped towards the two humans.

"What just happened?" Keigo asked feeling his world spinning around. There was a large cut on his forehead bleeding over his eye and blurring his vision and his elbows and forearms were burnt.

Mizuiro winced as he tried to move his left arm, quickly realizing it was broken. He also had some road burns and some cuts on his face.

"I think I broke my arm." He replied when Renji approached to check on him.

Ichigo and Renji quickly assessed their injuries while a single thought went through both their heads. How come they weren't dead? Or at least, dying? Certainly, Nnoitra wasn't that bad with his aim. And the intent had clearly been that of killing. So, how come they were both alive and with could be called only minor injuries?

Ichigo looked in the direction of where the explosion had taken place and stood up surprised. "That girl..."

Standing a few meters ahead of him, the long black haired arrancar had just fallen on her knees. Her clothes were shredded and tainted red and black. She was a wreck of cuts and burns. Blue flames slowly died in her hands.

"She blocked the cero." Ichigo stated as he took a step towards her and then stopped, unsure of what he should do.

Tatsuki struggled to her feet. Her entire body ached. It had been a while since the last time she had been directly hit by a cero. And it hurt like hell. She had tried to partly nullify its power by sending a blast of her own, which was successful. But it had been too close to have effect. . Her forearms cloths had burned and the bottom of her haori was turned into shreds. Her mask cracked and the part she had reconstructed over her eyes detached itself and fell down, disappearing in tiny soul particles before it hit the ground.

"What the fuck are you doing, Arisawa?" Nnoitra yelled threatening her with one of his scythe over her throat. Tatsuki pushed the blade away.

"I'm the one asking that, asshole!" she spat back. "You had orders not to kill anyone. I think Aizen made himself pretty clear about that."

"Hmph!" he laughed. "And since when do you care what I do? If Aizen wants to punish me for killing two useless humans, so be it. At least I'm not a blind obedient coward like you, Arisawa."

At the second mention of her surname, Tatsuki froze, suddenly remembering where she was. Her bankai dissolved along with her hopes of keeping her identity a secret from her friends. Nnoitra had just ruined her efforts of that night. He had called her by her name, loud and clear; twice.

She turned around to stare at her best friend. Ichigo was quiet. The kind of quiet he always was when he didn't know what to think or what to do. And for worse, Keigo and Mizuiro were there as well. She wondered whether she should go there or not. Would it be worst, if he thought that she was a traitor? But then again, he wouldn't really think that after she saved Mizuiro and Keigo. _Those dorks! Why the hell did they have to follow us?_

"Tatsuki?" his voice wasn't actually surprised.

Passing her hand over her mask, Tatsuki returned it to its usual place over her head. She wanted to know what he was feeling. She wanted to know so she could take it away. She wanted to have the power to make him forget. _One of those things Rukia used would be handy right now._ But she knew there was no way she could simply erase what had happened.

"Ichigo, I…" words wouldn't come out. She just didn't know what to say. _I'm sorry? Hello, I'm not dead?_

She was surprised when she felt his strong arms wrapping around her and pulling her close, her forehead against his chest. Her heart raced. She wanted to hug him back. She hadn't realised how much she had actually missed him since she had been taken.

No. The truth was that she had been missing him for much longer than that, ever since he had become a shinigami, when their worlds had been ripped apart.

Her bleeding hands grasped the rough fabric of his gi. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry, Ichigo." She whispered. His hand caressed her long hair, touching the tip of the horns in her hollow mask.

"Sh!" he hushed her. "I'm so happy you're alive…and standing."

A loud chilling roar was heard. "So it was true!" Nnoitra laughed hysterically. "Szayel was right. That thing just now wasn't your released form. You aren't an arrancar. Not like us anyway." His voice suddenly became colder and even crueller. "But worst of it, you're friends with them. You're a traitor to what you are, to your kind. You know what we do to traitors in Hueco Mundo?"

Tatsuki broke free from Ichigo's embrace, her tears mixing with the rain. "Bring it on, Nnoitra!" she shouted as she prepared to defend herself from the attack she knew it would come. Ichigo and Renji were standing in position behind her. Ichigo grabbed Tatsuki's arm.

"Let me fight him."

Tatsuki smiled sadly. Her sentence had been decided. _**You're not going to let yourself be killed that easily, are ya? You know I can help…**_

"No!" she replied as pushed him back. "He's still too strong for you. Don't worry about me. And don't tell Orihime." She used sonido to close in on Nnoitra.

"You know what, bitch?" the Espada stared at the black haired arrancar. "I'm not going to kill you here. I'll just wait to do it in Hueco Mundo after I see Grimmjow's face when he discovers his girlfriend is a freaking shinigami lover." He broke into another sequence of hysterical laughs.

"Well I think you're just afraid of me." She poked him in the chest before she disappeared in another sonido. "I think you can't do it."

"I said I wouldn't kill you, but that doesn't mean I won't beat you up." Nnoitra swung his scythes against her. She evaded them with sonido. "Do your resurrection. I know you have one." He managed to hit her sending her to the ground. Too beaten up to dash away, Tatsuki backed away from his scythes until she hit a wall and was left in a tight spot.

"Tatsuki!" Ichigo flash-stepped in her direction.

"Stay away!" she cried suddenly aware someone else was coming, but it was too late. Ichigo was thrown back opening another crater on the pavement.

Then Ulquiorra threw Tatsuki against the opposite building leaving her unconscious before he grabbed her and the three arrancar were engulfed by two blinding white lights.

"What the fuck, Ulquiorra?" Nnoitra complained.

The vizard was about to follow them but Renji grabbed his wrist. "Are you crazy, Ichigo? That's Negácion. You can't just barge against it."

"Shit! Tatsuki's…"

Restrained in Ulquiorra's arms and isolated from Karakura's dimension, Tatsuki was powerless to do anything except being transported back to Hueco Mundo.

"TATSUKI!"

The two Negácion fields were followed by two other and disappeared through four slits in the sky.

* * *

Well, there it goes, another chappie is up. Hope you've enjoyed it. It was troublesome, but I think it was worthy. Thanks so much to all people who reviewed.

So, in the next chapter: what will happen to Tatsuki? Is she on dead row in Hueco Mundo? Will Ichigo follow her? Will her tell Orihime? Will this event join Keigo, Mizuiro and Ichigo again?

Lol. 'Till Next Time.


	9. Realization

Disclaimer: guess what? yeah, I don't own Bleach. Kubo Tite does and although I think he's great and all, he could give Tatsuki a more important role in the story. I feels like he's been hinting it for so long and still nothing happens.

Second Edition (Nov2011)

* * *

Himitsu

By

Marie Darkholme

**Chapter Nine:** Realization

"TATSUKI!"

Ichigo fell on his knees. The final glimpse of white light from the Negácion field had disappeared and the four slits, like smiling mouths of clowns mocking him, had disappeared as well, leaving the sky as dark as it had been before. The only sound left was that of the rain that kept pounding down over the city and its inhabitants.

Three pairs of eyes mirrored the fallen shinigami. Renji crouched and stretched his hand to touch Ichigo's shoulder in a reassuring gesture, but stopped midway when he realised the vizard was crying. Although it was raining, the threads made by the salty water trailing down the orange headed boy's cheeks were clear as he approached. Sighing, he backed a few steps.

Clenching his fists tightly, Ichigo banged them on the floor a couple of times until they started bleeding. He bit his lip trying to keep himself from screaming his anger out, but the hurricane of feelings inside was just too strong. Rising his head to the sky, the cry came from deep within him; a raged yell he had kept inside for way too long escaped from his lips, loud, almost deafening; an hurtful and angry cry that startled his three friends, followed by a burst of spiritual energy so strong that even Renji gasped for air for a few seconds. An aura of red and black surrounded the vizard as if Getsuga Tenshou was poring through him.

Then the reiatsu died as suddenly as it had appeared and Ichigo disappeared in a shunpo way too long for the red haired shinigami to know where he had gone to.

Renji exhaled the air kept inside his lungs and took several short breaths before his breathing returned to normal. Keigo and Mizuiro were simply glued to the floor unconscious. The shinigami's bankai dissolved and Zabimaru was returned to its usual spot on Renji's waist. "Shit!" was the only word he was able to mutter.

Not a minute had passed when Rukia stopped in front of him, Inoue following seconds later. Both of them had felt Ichigo's reiatsu and were obviously worried about him. In fact, he wondered, there mustn't have been anyone with the smallest amount of spiritual awareness that hadn't felt the orange haired vizard's spiritual energy.

"What the fuck was that? Where is Ichigo?" the short black haired shinigami blurted as soon as she arrived. Then it occurred to her that Renji was injured and probably in need of medical attention. "Are you alright?" she kneeled beside him and tried to take a look at his wounds.

Meanwhile, Orihime had noticed her classmates lying on the floor a couple of steps behind Renji and had run towards them. She was relieved to see that both were breathing and were not beyond her help.

"Ayame, Shun'ou, Souten Kisshum! Watashi wa kyozetsu suru!" ((Twin Sacred Return Shield. I reject!)) She quietly recited the incantation and the two flowers of the Hibiscus Shield quickly formed the familiar pod that involved Mizuiro and swiftly reversed the time so that none of his injuries had happened. Then, Orihime did the same with Keigo. When both boys regained their consciousness, the orange haired princess was already finishing healing Renji's wounds.

When the job was done, Ayame and Shun'ou turned back into two of the petals of Orihime's hairpins. Both her and Rukia watched Renji quietly with a mix of curiosity and anxiety.

"So, what happened?" the black haired shinigami asked.

Renji scratched the back of his head. _That bastard Ichigo just had to leave the explanations to me, didn't he?_ He thought bitterly. But then he remembered. "_Don't tell Orihime." _Tatsuki had said. And he certainly wouldn't be the one breaking the news to Inoue about her best friend turning into a sort of mix between hollow and shinigami, much like Ichigo was.

"I…I don't know, really. They just ran away for some reason." He started walking back to the place where Keigo and Mizuiro were sitting, looking at each other. He quickly motioned them with a finger over his lips to be quiet and the two gave him an understanding look before standing up. Orihime watched his back with a distrusted look.

Rukia took out her memory eraser and was about to flash it at them, when Renji took it from her. "No need to do that. They already know everything about us. Besides, they're spiritually aware. It wouldn't do much erasing their memories. You know they would eventually remember everything again." He argued before tossing the eraser back at her. Rukia shrugged and stuck the thing in her hakama's pocket again.

"Anyway, what are they doing here? They could've gotten killed!" she complained wanting to punch the boys for their stupidity. Keigo cowered behind Mizuiro as the group walked away from the smashed pavement before someone arrived.

"We were following Ichigo-san." Mizuiro replied as he pushed Keigo off him. Rukia sighed. Some people were just beyond any kind of help.

"Where are we going?" she asked as they continued to walk apparently without destination.

"To Urahara Shouten." Renji quickly replied. Something told him that was where Ichigo had disappeared to.

"What about Kurosaki-kun?" Inoue asked shyly, her cheeks quickly turning a soft shade of pink.

"Ichigo's probably there already, judging by the rush in which he left." Renji informed. "And I can feel Sado's and Ishida's reiatsu. They're probably heading that way too, so we'll just meet there."

Orihime stopped briefly to reach out to everyone's reiatsu. She was unsettled. Ichigo's spiritual energy was still flaring. Still, it wasn't Ichigo's usual reiatsu. Instead, it felt like the one she had felt the first time the arrancar had appeared. It felt hollow-like. She was worried. She distrusted there was something she wasn't being told. The looks Renji and her two classmates exchanged only contributed to increase her suspicious.

"Abarai-kun, are you sure there is nothing else you need to tell us?" she inquired, feeling slightly bad about it. The red haired shinigami quickly said "no" without even looking back.

A large hole opened up in a large room in Las Noches. An arrancar was thrown down the several steps that led to the Garganta. She coughed some blood before trying to stand up and failing miserably. With her right foot and left knee on the ground, Tatsuki tried to steady her vision. Everything around her was in a blurry shade of black and white. That could only mean she was back at Hueco Mundo.

A loud cry was heard and Yammy fell down on the floor the moment he passed through the gate. An emergency arrancar team quickly transported him out of the room. The three remaining arrancar bowed respectfully.

"Aizen-sama, the mission was successful." The Quarto Espada informed as he looked up to see Aizen's smiling face as he entered the room, followed by Gin. Apparently Tousen was absent, probably spending some time with his arrancar pet, Wonderweiss.

"Apparently." The shinigami replied as he looked down to the girl kneeling on the floor at his feet. "What happened?" he inquired as he motioned the Espada to approach.

"She was found out." Ulquiorra simply said as he slowly made his way down the stairs.

"Hmm. I see." Aizen's face was a mix of amusement and curiosity. He approached the fallen arrancar. Crouching in front of her, he raised her face with a finger under her chin. Her breathing was elaborated. Ulquiorra flinched.

"Aizen-sama, you should not dirty your hands with such a specimen." He replied as he bowed respectfully again. Gin smiled wider. Nnoitra rolled his eyes and Zommari gave an approving nod.

Tatsuki tried to gather her strengths. But it was useless. As soon as Aizen touched her, she was left frozen, unable to move or speak. He looked into her eyes and she gulped. Once again, she felt utterly exposed in front of him and she hated it. He leaned in and she felt his breath on her ear.

"You look pretty battered, Arisawa-san." He whispered. "Did Kurosaki did this to you?"

She wanted to yell at him. _Go to Hell! __**Yeah, go to Hell.**_ When the rest of the Espada entered the room she was partially aware of it. Again, she gulped as she tried to break eye contact with Aizen.

"What the fuck is going on?" she heard Grimmjow's voice coming from the entrance. The Sexta Espada had followed his orders and met the rest of the Espada in the exiting room. He wasn't surprised to see Yammy being carried out on his way. He was surprised, though, when he found Tatsuki kneeling on the ground, Aizen holding her chin. Something inside him was outraged. _What the hell is he touching her like that for?_ He didn't know why, but the simple gesture was fucking annoying.

Nnoitra smiled. The moment he had waited for had arrived sooner than he had expected. And in a much more dramatic point as well. He took a step forward to face his fellow Espada. "What's going on is that this bitch not only has shinigami powers as she's also friends with our enemies." He shouted pointing his blade at Tatsuki's motionless form.

Aizen stood up and climbed some of the stairs so he could get a better view of all of his Espada. He studied them. The reactions around the room were various from outrage to disbelieve, surprise and even untroubled looks.

Tatsuki rose shakily and faced the stares directed at her. She had never thought it would be possible, but amongst the Espada there was actually someone whose reaction she cared about.

Grimmjow watched her in disbelieve. "Is it true?" he asked as he took a step towards her. But a part of him already knew it was true, even if he didn't want it to be. No one moved. The girl nodded briefly.

"I wanted to tell you."

Gin looked away for the brief moment that took Grimmjow to raise his fist and slam it into the girl's face, sending her back to the ground. Again, Tatsuki spit some blood. "I deserved that." She replied with a sad smile as she watched the Sexta Espada walking out of the room.

She had expected more. She had expected him to kill her right there.

Nnoitra's laughter was loud and annoying. Rising up to her feet she shot a bala against him, knowing perfectly well he would easily block it, which he did. Before he could move, Gin was standing in front of her. His blood red eyes warned everyone to remain in a safe distance.

"So what, she's also a shinigami…" a voice from between the group of Espada replied lazily. "As long as she's on our side, I don't really care." Stark replied.

"But Nnoitra said she's friends with Kurosaki Ichigo. He's our enemy." Barragan contested. "Shouldn't we kill her?"

"Don't go killing her so soon. There's much I would like to investigate about her transformation." Szayel licked his lips in anticipation. "Then, you can kill her."

"We could just throw her out of Las Noches." Aaroniero said dismissively, the conversation boring him.

Halibel was quiet. Being the only female Espada, she didn't want to mix in such a discussion. For her, it really didn't matter what they did to the girl. But she had to admit she was slightly interested in her. After all, she possessed similar powers to Kurosaki Ichigo. Having her around could turn out to be educative.

"As far as I know, Arisawa Tatsuki has yet to show any sign of disloyalty to us." Aizen interrupted the discussion. "Gin, she needs medical treatment. Attend to it." the brown haired shinigami ordered.

Picking Tatsuki's body in his skinny arms, the shinigami disappeared with her.

"Arisawa was indeed friends with Kurosaki Ichigo." Aizen smiled. "However, that relationship ended the moment she was brought here. She knows that. Did she attack you, Nnoitra?" the leader of the Espada asked serenely, knowing perfectly well the answer.

"No, but she protected two humans and was abo..." He complained, his face contracting in anger. Ulquiorra remained emotionless, but inside him, fury was boiling.

"She did it to prevent you from killing them. I do remember giving orders that no one could be killed." Aizen interrupted in an amused tone of voice. "So, if you look at it from her perspective, she was merely protecting you from the punishment you would serve later from disobeying orders."

Everyone was quiet. Nnoitra clenched his fists tightly. "Of course, Aizen-sama."

"In conclusion, Arisawa is staying and I forbid you to touch her and I mean it. SHE'S NOT TO BE TOUCHED." He emphasized the fact. "I have important plans that require her alive." He smiled before dispersing the Espada. "Ulquiorra, inform Yammy. Nnoitra, you inform Grimmjow. This is my decision. Anyone defying me will face severe consequences." And he retrieved.

Ichimaru Gin had yet to know how was it possible that he had gained some kind of affection for this human girl he now carried unconscious in his arms. Had it been during her training, or even before, the first time he had seen her fighting? He had been the one locking her up in that room and watch day in day out as she fought, as she won, as she lost, as she slowly turned into what she was. Not once had her strength faltered. She was determined, stubborn and in despair she was even stronger.

He remembered her in those last five days of her humanity. From the monitors set across the room he could see her standing up and taking in her surroundings. Even when she realised where she was and what had happened, she didn't panic. He had been surprised by that. And then, he had been utterly amazed by her physical strength when the first hollow charged at her. Even without shinigami powers, she had managed to beat the hollow to a pulp in a few seconds.

As he reminisced of those first days, another memory started replacing Tatsuki's image. A suppressed memory of a blond young woman. He wondered shortly if things could have been different if she had hold on. A sad sigh escaped his thin lips.

Gently, he lied down Tatsuki's body on the mattress in that forgotten room she had been previously. Her clothes were ragged and soaked in blood. There were several cuts spread all over her body, in her head, arms and legs; but the most prominent was the large slash across her abdomen. Undoubtedly it had been made by the attack of Kurosaki Ichigo. His ability in healing kidou wasn't that of Unohana-taichou or even of Kuchiki Rukia who was said to have had top grades in demon magic. Still he was the only one there at the moment.

Removing the trashed keikogi carefully, he exposed the wound. It was worse than he had expected.

At first, Aizen had given him the task of taking care of the girl's medical necessities because he didn't want any of the Espada finding out about her strange reiatsu which might have happened if a normal arrancar was to take care of her wounds. But now she had been discovered, Gin didn't want to take the risk of getting the female shinigami killed by taking her to the arrancar so he did the best he could to heal her wounds and covered the remaining with bandages.

It was during the procedure of having her abdomen wrapped up that Tatsuki slowly opened her eyes. Everything around looked strangely bright and unfocused, even though the room was dimly illuminated.

"Gin-san?" she asked as she noticed the shinigami attending to her injuries. He looked up with a truthfully relieved face that managed to get Tatsuki confused.

"Arisawa-chan, ya're awake!" he quickly finished wrapping the bandages while the girl watched him.

"I thought for sure Aizen would dispose of me now that I've been discovered." She replied when Gin was finished. The shinigami slid his hands in the spaces between his sleeves crossing them over his chest as he stood looking down on her. The girl sat up with a small wince. He didn't bother telling her she shouldn't move knowing perfectly well that wouldn't stop her from doing so.

"Aizen-san still has plans for ya. His orders are to keep ya alive." He informed her. She rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, well, I suppose he knows that I won't be a puppet in his hands. Just because I agreed coming here and being under his command, doesn't mean I have forgotten who my friends are." She stiffly replied.

"I can see that." Ichimaru motioned to her abdomen. "Ya're still willing to protect them, even after they deserted ya." His face acquired a slightly disapproving frown.

Tatsuki looked away. It was kind of true that they had deserted her. Still, they were her friends and she had promised to herself she wouldn't hold a grudge against them when she realised she was being left behind. _**You might be able to lie to yourself, but you can't fool me.**_The hollow quickly retorted. She sighed. Well, she was slightly bitter because of what they had done. Still there was no way she was going to turn her back on them. She knew they cared. She had felt it. A shiver ran through her body as she recalled Ichigo's strong grip around her.

"Even if they did, they're still my friends." She replied standing up unsteadily. This time Gin couldn't let it pass. Taking his hands from his sleeves he pressed her shoulders and forced her to sit down again.

"Where do ya think ya're going?" he asked with his usual grin. "Ya can't leave this place until yar injuries are completely healed. Now stay here and lie down." He made her lie down on the bed and left, closing the door behind him.

Tatsuki sighed. _Does he really think that locking the door will keep me from leaving?_ _**He must be out of his mind.**_ Her hollow replied. _Shut the fuck up. Nobody asked you anything._ She was about to put on her gi when she realised it was completely ragged, so instead she torn a large piece of it that she tied around her chest. _It feels damn weird walking around with only bandages covering your boobs._

Once Ichimaru's reiatsu was far enough she used her skills to open the door with a smile. She just loved destroying Aizen's property. Glancing around, she found herself in the medical wing once again. Still, there was not one arrancar at view. Unbothered by the fact, the dragon walked away in a quick pace. She had pressing matters that needed to be addressed. As she walked, she couldn't help thinking back at everything that had happened.

_**If you had let me have Nnoitra, you could have just stayed in that other world.**_ The hollow was getting more and more annoying. _Would you just shut up? It's not like I had only Nnoitra to worry about. Besides, why would I want to stay there? I'm dead. I don't belong to the Living World anymore. As much as I don't like it, this is where I belong now. __**Why not in Soul Society?**_ Tatsuki was about to lose it with her hollow. She was clearly mocking her so the girl just didn't bother to reply.

She was nearing her destination when she suddenly stopped. The killing intent in the reiatsu that surrounded her was so thick it actually felt like there was a blade pressing against her neck. She sighed. Even though Aizen had forbidden the Espada to kill her, she doubted he had put any restrictions on playing around with her.

She made the corner already knowing she would look at a familiar figure leaning against the opposite wall. The Quinto Espada was eyeing her with the same sadistic grin he had at the time they had first met.

"Arisawa!" he pulled away from the wall. "I knew you would stop by around here sooner or later. But before you have your little shit chat with the shitty kitten, we need to talk." Nnoitra approached her. "Let's step outside."

"When you say outside, you mean to say it like a date outside Las Noches?" she smirked. "I'm sorry, but I feel indulged to decline your _kind_ offer."

"Bitch!" The Espada's short patience was quickly fading. "You're afraid of stepping out of Aizen's protection?" he taunted her. Tatsuki clenched her fists. It was a clear provocation but she knew she couldn't just let him get to her.

"But of course." She admitted openly with a smile. "Why would I expose myself to getting killed by going outside Las Noches with you? I think I'll just ignore you and go talk to Grimmjow." She started walking towards the corridor that led to the Sexta Espada's wing. Her path was blocked by Nnoitra scythe as he quickly shoved her against the wall.

"Are you that afraid to fight me? Don't tell me you can't handle it." he put a finger over her lips. "Don't say anything. I have an idea. If you don't fight me now, I'll tell ya what I'm going to do to your little shinigami friends the next time we fight them." His smirk was obvious as he leaned closer. "I'll start off with the human, you know, the one we brought here. I'll be sure to make her scream with every bone I break before I kill her." He licked his lips, imagining the scene.

Tatsuki clenched her fists. _You're not going to live long enough to do that. __**Yes, that's it, Tatsuki-chan. Let me kill him. Just this one time, let me take control.**_

"And then I'll deal with that shinigami show off, Kurosaki. It was such a pity that Aizen called us out before I had the chance to fight him last time. He looked pretty strong and I'm sure it would be fun tearing him apart, limb by limb. You know, that's what I'm going to do if you don't comply. All I want is to talk."

"**Don't worry, you won't live long enough to do any of those things.**" Tatsuki's eyes were slowly but surely turning black as she struggled against both hers and the hollow's urge to rip out Nnoitra throat.

"That sounds like an empty threat to me." He approached her ear. "Maybe I'll enjoy torturing him before I tear apart his limbs."

A claw clutched his throat as Tatsuki's mask started to complete itself joining spirit particles from the environment with the broken mask in her head. Her left eye was now completely black and her right one was more than halfway. She struggled against the urge to smash him. She fought against her bloodlust. And then, Nnoitra hit her making her release her grip.

"Guess you'll fight with me, after all." The Espada grinned.

Tatsuki took deep breaths, her eyes returning to normal. "No, I won't." she replied.

"Too late, bitch!" he yelled back as he punched her, pushing her through the wall. The strength had been such that they went through four walls before falling down from Las Noches into the sand of Hueco Mundo's desert.

"We're outside now." He lunged his scythe and Tatsuki rolled over to avoid it. A cero forced her the other way and before she knew it, they had gotten sufficiently away from Las Noches even thought the huge palace was still in plain sight.

"Seems I have no choice but to fight you now." The girl acknowledged. Once he had gotten her distant enough from Las Noches, it was impossible for her to simply ignore the challenge. Of course Aizen could feel them there just as he could inside Las Noches, but it would be more difficult to intervene.

But that was exactly Nnoitra's objective. He wanted to force Tatsuki into an all out fight in a place where he could beat her senseless into an inert mass of reiatsu. He had never been more humiliated than when she had stopped his cero and then Aizen had prohibited them from touching her.

"INORE, SANTA TERESA!" he cried out. His four extra arms appeared carrying each a similar blade to the one he used in his unreleased form. "Do your resurrection." He ordered

Tatsuki shook her head. "If you wanna fight, I'll fight. But I'll fight you as a shinigami. BANKAI!" her long sleeveless haori appeared. _**Don't be such a sport spoiler, Tatsuki-chan. I'll eventually have to come out and when I do…**_a loud laugh exploded in her head. …_**I'll eat you up.**_ _Shut up and stay back. I can handle him by myself. __**We'll just see about that, won't we?**_

"Tsh! Looks like that's all I get for now." Nnoitra complained.

Ichigo made an abrupt stop in front of the familiar shouten. It had taken him three shunpo to get there and that was a personal record. Not that he had noticed the fact. He slid the door and entered the shop, stepping outside the rain that kept coming down. As he slid the door behind him close he noticed he was literally dripping water. A small puddle had already formed at his feet. He cursed and tried to squeeze his hakama as he waited for someone. But Urahara's Shouten looked empty. Ururu and Jinta were nowhere to be seen and even Tessai's enormous figure was out from sight. Usually one of the three was on lookout at the door. Not that Urahara would need someone to do it. Ichigo was sure the shinigami already knew of his arrival.

"You can come in, Kurosaki-kun!" the blond shinigami's voice reached Ichigo from the corridor.

The vizard decided to ignore his drenched uniform and quickly made his way inside the shop towards the origin of the voice. He slid the door to their usual meeting room to see both Urahara and Yoruichi sitting there. The blond took a sip of his tea without even looking at him. Ichigo didn't bother sitting. There was no point in doing so as he was planning on getting out as soon as possible.

"I need to go to Hueco Mundo, Urahara-san!" he burst out.

"Sit down, Ichigo." Yoruichi replied in a calm tone of voice without ever uncrossing her arms. It caught the vizard's eyes that both were very serious and stiff on their spots.

"I don't have time to sit down, Yoruichi-san. I need to go to Hueco Mundo!" he said exasperated, his hands clenching tightly at his sides. "Could you just open the Garganta for me? Please?"

The final word caught both Yoruichi and Urahara out of guard for a second. The situation could turn out to be more disturbing for Ichigo than they had anticipated.

"What makes you think it's still open?" Urahara quietly asked as he put down his cup of tea and looked up, his eyes covered by his hat.

Ichigo bit his bottom lip. _Of course, they could have just closed it again after retrieving. Still…__**Are you that eager to follow that arrancar, Ichigo?**_ His hollow taunted him. "We wouldn't know until we've tried it!" he replied, still refusing to sit.

Yoruichi gave a deep sigh and massaged her temporal lobe. Sometimes her pupil could be so hard-headed. But then again, she could understand how he was feeling. She had been utterly surprised by the turn of events as well. Once they had discovered that Tatsuki's soul had disappeared, it had never been a question whom had took her. The timing had just been too perfect for it to be a mere coincidence. Still, when they had felt something similar to her previous spiritual energy among the invading arrancar, they couldn't believe it.

"And what exactly are you planning to do?" she asked forcing his eyes to mirror hers. He quickly avoided her gaze, finding it too piercing and didn't reply. What could he possibly say? "Are you just going to barge in there and get yourself killed? You barely made it out alive the last time. Do you think Arisawa-san would want that?"

Ichigo's face perked up surprised. "You knew?" he asked confused. Then, anger quickly took over. "For how long? Were you planning to tell us at all? Or were you planning to wait until she appeared like she did?" he slammed his fist over the small table. Both shinigami were unbothered by the gesture. It was a normal reaction after all. Specially for the hot headed vizard.

"We've just recently discovered, Ichigo." Yoruichi said. "But we weren't sure if she had been taken or not. We just noticed that she had had a gikongan replacing her soul in her body."

"A gikongan?" he was sitting now. "I didn't know about that." He quickly dismissed it. It should have been obvious to him that something was replacing her soul in her body for it to still be alive. But that was beside the point at that moment. What really mattered was that she had been taken back to Hueco Mundo and he needed to get her back, no matter what. "Well, I don't care either way. What I really need right now is to get to Hueco Mundo. I have to save her. I have to. I can't just leave her there."

_**Can't or won't? You know, King, she's an arrancar, so she doesn't quite belong with the shinigami. Do you actually think anyone would accept her as she is right now? They can barely accept the me inside you.. How do you plan to make them accept an arrancar?**_ _**Or are you planning to take her to your stupid associates, the vizard? **_

_She's not just an arrancar. She's a shinigami too. And above it all, she's our friend. They would never shun her._

"Kurosaki-san, you have to consider the fact that she's an arrancar. She might not even recognize you anymore." Urahara quietly said.

Ichigo smiled. "You're wrong. She's not an arrancar. Well, not as the rest of them, at least. She had shinigami powers as well. She mastered bankai."

"You mean to say she's a vizard?" Yoruichi inquired surprised. Tatsuki's reiatsu had certainly felt different from the usual arrancar but she had just dismissed it. But now that she thought about it, there had been a moment during the battles when her spiritual energy had mostly resembled that of a shinigami. Still, the arrancar in it had never disappeared.

"Not quite…" Ichigo tried to search for the right expression but he found none. "It's as if she's a mix between vizard and arrancar. She kept her hollow mask the entire time she was in bankai, but not like vizards do. She kept it as arrancar do." He explained. Both of the shinigami were confused. This was something new that not even Urahara had known about.

"An arrancar that can perform bankai?" he scratched his chin absently.

"Kisuke, how could that happen?" the woman asked. Urahara shook his head.

"I haven't the sliest idea."

"Still, she fought you. She wouldn't have done it if she still had her memories." Yoruichi continued.

"No. She's still Tatsuki." Ichigo replied confidently.

"Ichigo, you can't a…"

"Believe me Yoruichi-san. She's still Tatsuki. She risked her own life to protect Mizuiro and Keigo. The whole time we were fighting I always felt like she was holding back. Her moves were planned as to not make much damage, like she did when we were kids. She said she was sorry." _Even though I should have been the one saying it._ "Apparently not all the Espada knew who she was. One of them was stupefied when she blocked out his cero. That's why I have to go get her back. Now that they know she's with us, they're going to kill her. I have to go save her." His face was a mask of guilt and pain. "You have to let me go save her."

"Kurosaki-kun, there has not been one single time in which I haven't helped you. However, this time I cannot comply with your wishes. Hueco Mundo is not Soul Society. Even if you went after her right now, you wouldn't have a single guarantee that she wouldn't be dead already. If they want her dead, she's already is. On the other hand, I don't believe Aizen would allow anyone to kill her so easily after going to such trouble to keep her abduction hidden. He must have plans for her, so the chances are that she's still alive. Either way, you're not going to Hueco Mundo by yourself. We need to think of a plan. We need to anticipate Aizen's next move so we can be ready." Having finished his speech, Urahara Kisuke took his fan from a compartment inside his keikogi and started to open and close it repeatedly. He was nervous.

Ichigo clenched his fists tightly over his legs. His head was facing down. He had heard it all in silence and he understood. But the fact he understood it, didn't mean he could stand it. "Then am I supposed to just sit here and do nothing?" he shouted.

"No." was Yoruichi peremptory reply. "You're supposed to be training so when you go save her you don't get your ass handed out to you."

And so it was. Knowing perfectly well he wouldn't get to chase Tatsuki to Hueco Mundo without Geta-boushi's help, he could only hope she would stay alive long enough for him to save her. What they would do after it didn't really matter. He didn't care if she was an arrancar or a vizard, a hollow or a shinigami, and neither did he care about the others' reaction. All he wanted was to have her wrapped in his arms again where he could protect her; where she belonged.

It had taken him long enough to realize that. Everything he had done until then, even lying to her had been to protect Tatsuki. But not because she needed it. He was the one who subconsciously wanted her to need his protection. He had just realized that keeping her out of the loop was only a way to be sure he would protect her. She belonged in his arms where he could keep her safe.

Exiting Urahara Shouten, he flash-stepped away minutes before his friends arrived. Before heading over to the vizard's usual training space, he made a short stop. Jumping through the familiar window, he entered the cold room. In there, time had come to a halt somewhere. Tatsuki's features were just like he remembered them to be: her short black hair framing her petit face that sometimes bared a scowl of her own. But what he missed most was her wannabe serious yet mocking grin that she always showed him.

Even knowing it wasn't really Tatsuki there he took her hand in his and pushed away a lock of hair that had fallen over her eyes. "I'll save you no matter what, so…just hang in there."

It wasn't really fair what he did. She was asleep; damn, she wasn't even in herself. He lowered his head, not quite sure of what he was going to do before mistaking her lips for her forehead and placing a small kiss on them before jumping off the window again.

_**I hate the rain! **_ His hollow complained as the water started to fall down in Ichigo's inner world.

* * *

Yay, another chapter up. I haven't replied every one of the reviewers but I will. Hope you've enjoyed this chapter, specialy the last paragraph. I thought it was rather sweet of him, but let me hear what you thought about it.

Going on, thanks to the previous chapter reviewers. I will answer you briefly.

Ja ne, minna.


	10. Dragon vs Spoonhead

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. Kubo Tite does.

Second Edition (Nov2011)

* * *

Himitsu

By

Marie Darkholme

**Chapter Ten:** Dragon vs Spoonhead

A silver haired shinigami made his way back to the medical wing of Las Noches. The smile on his face had become such a part of who he was that sometimes it even managed to annoy him. As he watched the busted door widely open, he couldn't help but sigh. His pupil had once again managed to do everything she shouldn't have. Ignoring the fact he felt like to kill her at the moment, he did a quick search for her reiatsu to realize she wasn't even in Las Noches. As he broadened his research area, he spotted both her and the Quinto Espada reiatsu a few miles outside Las Noches. They seemed to be getting very fired up.

Turning back, Ichimaru Gin, ex-captain of the third squad, headed over to Aizen's usual place. It was necessary to warn him that something was about to happen. But then, it occurred him something else. Changing direction in the labyrinth-like corridors he walked over to the Sexta Espada's wing.

Tatsuki studied her opponent. She had seen him fight before. She knew some of his tricks but he should know none of hers. That granted her some sort of advantage,...she hoped. Nevertheless she was aware of the huge gap between their powers. Her speciality being close range hand-to-hand combat wasn't exactly helpful in that situation either, seeing as Nnoitra was a long range fighter. It would be difficult enough to block and avoid his arms, much more getting close enough to lay a decent kick or punch on the bastard's face.

She decided it would be smart to let him make the first move. From then on, she would have to improvise through dodging mostly until she found an opening. And then, she would have to make the best out of that opportunity, which meant getting him and getting him hard.

There was a slight breeze. She licked her lips. Thirst and hunger wasn't something she should be worrying about at that moment.

"Are you just going to stare or are you actually gonna fight me?" The Espada taunted her. Tatsuki ignored him.

"You're the one who wanted to fight so come and get me." She smiled back.

Getting fed up with the waiting game Nnoitra decided it was time to take action. Bringing two of his four scythes down he cut the air that had replaced Tatsuki when she flash-stepped away from the blades. She had to use shunpo again to avoid being hit by another one of the deathly moon shaped blades of the Espada, but no matter where she stopped he would just pinpoint the exact place and launch another attack without delay.

"I heard you were pretty fast using sonido. I guess you use shunpo just as well, seeing as that it's definitely not sonido." He stated. "Are you going to keep running, you little shit?"

Another attack made her flash-step away again, but this time, something different happened and Nnoitra released a powerful cero to the place he knew she would be through his mouth.

"Shit!" Tatsuki cursed seeing herself forced to bring out her zanpakutou to block out the cero that she moved to the side before flash-stepping into close range of the Espada. The movement caught him off-guard and she managed to place a powerful heel kick on his stomach before he used his head to knock her down.

_Damn! His hierro is hard. _Tatsuki rolled backwards to avoid his next attack and high blocked one of his descending scythe with the blade of her zanpakutou.

"I was wondering where that had gone to." Nnoitra laughed out as he pushed the blade deeper. The dragon reinforced the reiatsu in her blade. Then the Espada used another of his scythe to push her down. That left him with two more arms to spare that he used to attack her left flank. He was surprised when her left hand moved in to block them as well, holding a twin blade of her zanpakutou.

Unable to keep up with the Espada's strength, she allowed the upper two blades to come down deflecting them to the left so the four blades ended up together in a bundle, giving her time to attack Nnoitra, this time with a strong hook kick aimed at the Espada's jaw that made him slightly loose balance. This created the opportunity for Tatsuki to reach out her blue bladed zanpakutou and aim it at his chest in a left to right attack that Nnoitra tried to block out with one of his hands only to have it chopped off.

Before Tatsuki had time to even think about celebrating the successful hit, two other arms erupted from Nnoitra's torso. The girl flash-stepped to a safe distant crossing her twin blades in front of her.

"Nice moves, woman!" the Espada congratulated her as he regenerated his lost hand. "But it will take more than that to bring me down. Do your resurrection!" he ordered.

"I don't need it to defeat you!" she shouted back. Her zanpakutou disappeared and she charged forward making a number of flash-steps to try and confuse the Espada. Nnoitra didn't buy any of them and when she send a straight punch followed by a roundhouse kick, he blocked them both with his two free-hands and drove his blade horizontally in a clear attempt to divide her into two parts, torso and legs.

Tatsuki escaped the vicious attack by jumping and making a back handspring that left her in an attack position before she disappeared in a flash-step only to be intercepted by Nnoitra's scythe that cut through her left shoulder before she managed to get some distance between them.

The arrancar quickly glanced at her injured shoulder. Her hierro hadn't been able to protect her in the sliest. _Sometimes I wonder if I have this fucking hierro for any reason. It doesn't do a damn thing._ She complained inwardly. The blood gushed from the cut and dripped to the floor. It hadn't been disabling which didn't mean that it wouldn't make her movements harder.

The next attack by Nnoitra turned the fight into an acrobatic challenge to Tatsuki as she jumped, rolled and dived in any direction imaginable doing just about anything an Olympic gymnastic athlete would do on a floor exercise to be able to avoid the four blades that kept coming towards her. The velocity at which they were doing their deadly dance was the thing that was most extraordinary, though.

Grimmjow was lying around his training room doing some thinking. But thinking things through had never been a strong trait on him so he felt more like spanking something or someone. But seeing as he had just lost his sparring partner and couldn't exactly go rampage in search of a fight to the Menos forest, his anger was building up as he lied down on the ground of the large room.

Nnoitra's words were stuck in his head. He felt completely betrayed. _How did that little bitch dare to make a fool out of me? _He thought angry. _Really, thinking I would never discover the fact that she's a shinigami._ _But worst of it, she's actually Kurosaki's friend._

However, he wasn't sure if that was the exact reason why he was so pissed off. It was not that he was so dumb that he couldn't have noticed Tatsuki had some sort of secret she kept from him. Sure, he hadn't thought it would be something like this, but still. Did he care that she was a shinigami? Like he had told Ichigo once, he didn't care who was an arrancar or who was a shinigami. So…was he really that pissed because she hadn't told him? Because it had been Nnoitra to tell him?

He was startled away from his thoughts when he felt a rise in spiritual energy in the vicinities. Using pesquisa, he quickly searched for the source, discovering that it had been not one but two arrancar. Their reiatsu was unmistakable as well. They were Tatsuki and Nnoitra. It felt like they were getting ready to fight not too far away from his wing.

_How stupid can she be, messing around with Nnoitra? Does she actually think she can beat him?_ He sat straight, his hands resting over his knees, his eyes closed, as he continued to feel the other two. Suddenly Tatsuki's reiatsu changed from her usually flames under control to an unexpected raging fire.

His eyes widened. A single thought crossed his mind: _is she going to release her zanpakutou?_

In the medical wing of Las Noches, a bunch of arrancar worried themselves over the Décimo Espada. The giant had suffered severe injuries to his internal organs. They had him sedated and were working to repair his internal organs when a pale Espada approached the room. A short, thin female arrancar with a sick and weak appearance approached him. She was wearing a long white robe and her mask was a piece of white substance glued to the sides of her head over her ears that was part of the glasses she wore.

"Ulquiorra-sama!" she exclaimed as she approached the Espada, obviously flustered by his presence. His cold stare made her avoid eye contact when she spoke again. "Yammy-sama is still unconscious so you won't be able to talk with him." She informed quickly, her fingers playing with her white garment.

"Alright." The Espada replied without a hint of emotion. "When he is awake send someone for me immediately." He ordered as he turned around and prepared to leave. Then, something made him stop. The arrancar eyed him in fear, wondering if it had been something she had done.

"Is…is some-thing…wrong, Ulquiorra-sama?" she stuttered as she took a step back.

Without bothering to reply, the Espada continued, this time, his pace clearly more rushed than before.

"Hey, Stark!" a small dirty blond arrancar jumped over the sleeping form of the black haired Espada. "Hey! Hey!" she tried to get his attention. Seeing as she wasn't getting it, she poked him in the eyes. This made him react.

"What the hell Lilinette?" he whined in a sleepy voice as he supported himself on his elbows.

"Didn't you feel that?" the arrancar queried, pinching the Espada's cheek.

"Of course I did. So what?" Stark allowed himself to lie back down.

"Aren't you gonna do something?" the Viking masked arrancar inquired.

"Let the kids play." The Espada finally replied leaving the excited arrancar talking by herself.

"Aizen-sama!" the dark skinned shinigami entered the large throne room with his fateful arrancar following his steps swiftly. "Stay here, Wonderweiss." He ordered the small figure at his feet when they crossed the tall door.

"Gah!" the arrancar complied as he looked around absently.

"Aizen-sama, have you noticed?" the white dressed shinigami asked concerned. Aizen raised his chin from his hand and ran a hand through his slick brown hair.

"Nnoitra and Arisawa?" he asked. "Don't worry. Someone's already on the way."

"And what will you do?" Tousen asked as his hand rested in the hilt of his zanpakutou. "Such shameless disobedience must be fought against in order to keep the Espada under control."

"Nnoitra will face his rightful punishment. Meanwhile, let's just enjoy this."

"What if the girl releases her zanpakutou?" Tousen inquired, a glint of fear in his voice.

"She won't."

Tatsuki tried to stopin order to catch her breath but it was useless. Nnoitra kept coming at her leaving her no place to rest. Her body had never fully recovered from her fight with Ichigo and she had suffered several hits since the beginning of the fight.

Blood was dripping from a cut in her forehead over her left eye which blinded her from time to time. She wiped it once again to her bandaged wrist and jumped backwards to avoid the Espada's attack. She winced as her feet touched the ground obliging her leg's anterior muscles to contract and therefore causing a deep cut on her thigh to stretch.

There was also another cut on her cheek from an attack directed to her neck and a slash crossed her back from shoulder plate down across her spine to the other side. Almost a twin injury of the one over her torso that had, meanwhile, started to bleed once more.

"You look just about to fall down, bitch." Nnoitra smirked as he approached. But he wasn't exactly on top shape either. The female hybrid had managed to inflict a number of injuries to the Espada as well. There was a cut over the left side of his face that had cut through his eye patch leaving both his hole and hollow mask remnants showing. Another large cut had been inflicted over his torso in an X pattern when Tatsuki slashed both her blades over him.

"You don't seem that good either, dipshit." She replied in a confident voice. But deep down, she knew she was done for. She had known it before the beginning of the fight. And now that she was getting weaker, her hollow was making itself heard more strongly. _**Let me fight him!**_ It cried.

Nnoitra raised his right leg and swung his foot at Tatsuki's face. She blocked it only to be hit by a straight punch. Falling down on the blood stained sand she managed to roll back to a fighting stance before receiving an axe kick just over her injured shoulder.

She fell down again, this time not being able to stand back up. The two blade in her hands disappeared when she turned around and tried to get on her feet, her hands and knees forcing her body up. She was taken back down by another downwards kick. Coughing, Tatsuki spit blood onto the sand, some of it getting caught up in her mouth when Nnoitra stepped over her head and forced it down on the sand.

"You're pitful, Arisawa!" he shouted before kicking her side so she turned around, her face looking up. Inversing the position of one of his scythe, he impaled her wrist with one of the tips of the blade. "Release your zanpakutou!" he ordered as he twisted the blade. The girl cried out in pain.

"No!" stubbornly she reached his blade with her other hand, but before she could touch it, he grabbed her arm and with a quick movement, removed the blade from her wrist and pulled her body up so that her back was against his chest, her feet not touching the ground, one of his hands holding her arm, the other pressing her throat and a third one around her waist.

"That attitude is going to get you killed." Nnoitra smirked. He forced her head to tilt to her left and licked the blood dripping from her right cheek. "You're scared, Arisawa. I can taste the fear running through you." Holding her in front of him by her throat, he glared at her battered figure. "Release your zanpakutou!"

"Hadou…" she was unable to finish the kidou spell as Nnoitra threw her body back to the sand.

"RELEASE IT!" he shouted furious.

Tatsuki rose up, her knees shaking with the strength required to do so. Her hand rested over her left black eye. "…" she found herself unable to speak. Spirit particles started gathering over her face. _No! No! No! __**Yes! Yes! Yes!**_

An evil smirk crossed her features, half of her right eye already black as well. She stretched her hand and dark red energy started gathering there.

"NO!" the scream was followed by a wave of reiatsu and the dragon cranium in her head cracked before she fell down on the floor, barely conscious.

Nnoitra approached her. "Tsh! If you're not going to play along, there's no point in keeping you alive." His scythe was brought down over Tatsuki's motionless form to finish her off.

Tatsuki felt something warm and wondered if that was her own blood flowing out of her body and involving her like a warm blanket. If this was dying, for a second time, it wasn't as bad as she had thought it would be. In fact, it was rather pleasant. She didn't open her eyes, but a vague memory filled her before she fell down in shadows. The memory of sunset in the river

…_banks; a warm hand caressing her cheek, tugging a lock of hair behind her ear. "You really went all out on them this time." "Nobody messes with my friends." "Well you could be more careful." The same warm hand touched the cut on her cheek. "I don't think you'll need stitches. But it's a deep cut. You should come to my house and let my dad take a look at it."_

_The girl laughed. "No way, your old man is crazy. Besides…" She looked away, a slight blush creeping to her cheeks. "I don't want him making funny comments again."_

_The boy chuckled. "Am I that ugly?" _

"_Idiot!" she smacked him the head._

And then fell into nothingness.

"Tsh!" Nnoitra complained as his scythe impaled the bloody sad where his victim had been just seconds before. "You really had to barge in just now?"

"Are you backing up, or do I have to beat you up?"

"Don't be conceived. You're no match for me." Nnoitra snickered. "Still, I'm surprised. I thought for sure you were going to kill her. Liked the punch by the way. Very dramatic!" he laughed.

Grimmjow Jeagerjaques tightened his grip over the small frame in his arms. Tatsuki's bankai had started dissolving the moment he took her and her long haori had just disappeared into a myriad of soul particles. He had to get her out of there as soon as possible. As he looked down on her peaceful however battered features, the answer he had been searching moments earlier hit him.

"I changed my mind." He replied. "So, how's it going to be? You're going to retrieve, or you're going to fight?" the panther asked once more.

Nnoitra smirked before starting to laugh hysterically. "I can't believe this…I really can't..." he said between strident laughs. "You're going to try to protect that little shit, aren't you?"

The Sexta Espada gritted his teeth. He had hoped that Nnoitra would just back up. After all, other than getting on Aizen's bad side, what else would he gain out of killing Tatsuki?

Even if the black haired arrancar was injured, he was, nevertheless, the Quinto Espada, which placed him a step above Grimmjow. Not that he had ever been bothered by that. He had gladly stood against Ulquiorra when the Espada had tried to interrupt his fight with Ichigo. But at that time, he had no one to worry about.

And that's when he suddenly understood. He smiled bitterly. _Tsh!_ _So, in the end, there was just about this one small detail separating me from that bastard Ichigo. Things get complicated really easy when you're trying to protect someone. Ironic that I ended up protecting one of his own._ He shook his head. That was wrong. He wasn't protecting Ichigo's friend. He couldn't care less about the shinigami's friends. He was protecting Tatsuki. She was neither human nor shinigami. At the best, she was part arrancar and that made her part of his group. But above anything else, she was his friend.

"Looks like I'm going to have to beat you up." Grimmjow smiled. "Alright, this is going to be fun." Putting Tatsuki's body gently down on the sand a couple of yards away, he reached for his zanpakutou.

"KISHIRE, PANTERA!"

From a safe distance, three friends had been observing the development of the events, feeling strangely attracted to the unfolding battle. Now that it had become a fight between two Espada it was even more intriguing and therefore more interesting. Why in Hueco Mundo were the Espada fighting each other? What exactly was happening in Las Noches?

"We should get out of here before either of them sees us!" the tallest replied, but was quickly shushed by the smaller member of the group.

"No!" she whined. "I want to thee that Ethpada fight. I want to know what ith happening."

The rain had finally stopped. But the night was still filled with the sounds of the wind brushing through the trees. A small whirlwind caught on some fallen leaves from the floor and twirled them up into the sky. The buzzing of the police and firemen cars had faded after a couple of hours. At that moment, there were few police cars monitoring the zones that had been hit by something. Something meant the police wasn't really sure what had happened and were trying to avoid panic by saying that it had been a terrorist attack, which many people thought regardless.

A man with spiked black hair hid himself in the shadows when a police car crossed his path, cursing himself twice after he had done so. First, because he was in soul form so there was no chance that the policeman would see him. Second, because even if he could see him he had nothing to hide. He was just a regular citizen going out a little too late in the night. Nothing weird about that, though.

As he flash-stepped away, he kept his senses alert. It would be a pain in the ass if a certain orange haired vizard were to spot him; trouble uncalled for. Ichigo had been absent since that morning, although the shinigami knew exactly where his son had been, a bonus of having back his shinigami powers. Right now, though, his reiatsu had almost disappeared, which simply meant he was in another training session with the vizard.

Reaching his destination, he quickly slid a window open and entered.

"You could use the door, Isshin-san!" Urahara scolded as he took his hat off to scratch the top of his head.

"What are you doing here? You're seriously aiming for Ichigo to find out, aren't you?" Yoruichi promptly smacked the shinigami in the head.

"Hey, watch the hair!" Isshin complained. "It's not like I have any other way to meet up with you too!"

The three sat around a table, a dim light coming from a single candle lighten between them. In a second, all three had changed from their usual mocking and funny features to serious faces, portraying just how important the issue about to be discussed was.

"What have you told the kids?" Isshin was straight to point.

"Depends on the kids you're talking about." Urahara replied with a sigh. It had been difficult to comply with Tatsuki's plead. Because he couldn't simply shun the orange haired girl away while he talked with the rest of the group, he had had to keep the ignorant members in ignorance.

"Only Ichigo, Renji, Asano and Kojima found out. The rest thought there was something strange but are for the most part unaware of what really happened." Yoruichi explained.

"And what really happened?"

Urahara gave another sigh as he put on his hat which obscured his eyes. "Apparently, our suspicions were correct. Arisawa-san was turned into an arrancar."

Isshin scratched his chin absently. "However, the reiatsu I felt held a strange mix to it. It didn't feel like an usual arrancar." He thought out loud.

"And you're right, Isshin-san. This demonstrates that even after twenty years of absence, your abilities are still as sharp as before." The blond allowed himself a small smile that he hid behind his fan.

"Ichigo said that she performed bankai in front of him." Once again, it was up to the Goddess of Flash to do the explaining. Anticipating the black haired shinigami's question, she continued. "But she's not a vizard. Apparently she can also release her zanpakutou through resurrection."

This was enough to make the recently returned shinigami confused. _Damn Aizen! Of all the things to do, he just had to make some crazy experiments on one of Ichigo's friends. And Tatsuki of all. But then again, that was probably the only positive thing out of the entire situation. Had it been Keigo or Mizuiro and I don't think they would have survived it. He does know who to pick._

"Does she remember anything?" he asked.

Yoruichi nodded. "She took a direct hit to protect Asano and Kojima. That's how the two of them and Renji found out about her. Also, that appears to have caused her some troubles. She was going to fight their attacker when the Espada named Ulquiorra took her out and the group was retrieved via Negácion."

"Shit! That complicates things." Isshin cursed, resting his elbows over the table, his hands intertwined. "Have you tested the Garganta?"

"Isshin, you're not thinking of going there, are you?" the purple haired woman inquired surprise splattered on her face.

"I'm not that stupid." He defended himself, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at her. "But we must do something. We have to help Tatsuki-chan. How did Ichigo react?"

Urahara chuckled. "Worse than you."

"Well, he was pretty angry that we didn't open the Garganta. But he was also aware of the reason why he couldn't just barge in there without a plan."

"And what is the plan?" Isshin asked hurriedly. The other two shinigami exchanged looks and he rolled his eyes. "You don't have a plan." He stated.

Urahara closed his fan and tucked it inside his gi. He was silent for a moment, thinking carefully of his words before he spoke in a very calm yet distressed tone. "The fact is that, right now, I don't have the sliest idea of what Aizen is planning to do." He paused again before continuing. "If his goal remains the creation of the King's Key, I don't see the necessity of taking Arisawa-san. Unless he has done it merely to irritate Ichigo-san, which I highly doubt. It's just not like him to do things for amusement.

My idea had always been that he had taken Orihime-san not only because of her reversing powers but also to attract Ichigo, a major obstacle, taking him away from Karakura. Because of Ichigo's great potential, which Aizen clearly recognizes, he knew that Seireitei would eventually send some captain level officers to aid in Orihime's rescue and destruction of the Hougyoku. This way, our forces would be diminished when he attacked Karakura.

However, against all expectations, Ichigo-san and his friends managed to return before Seireitei put in action our plan. I was utterly suspicious of this. Judging by the timing, while he allowed your son and the others to escape from Hueco Mundo, he kidnapped Arisawa-san, which makes me think that perhaps he blackmailed her into following him. For what purpose did he experiment on her, I have no idea. Maybe he was intrigued with Ichigo's hollow powers and tried replicating them. I'm not sure. Still, I do not believe he would take her if he didn't have a role for her in his plans.

Finally, this last attack appears to have been only to expose Arisawa-san's new nature, even though he tried to cover his tracks by simulating an accident."

"But he did leave some clues." Yoruichi interrupted. "We were the ones not paying attention. But that was just because we never expected him to take someone without powers."

"Yes, but he tried nevertheless to cover his tracks. Nevertheless, there was something strange about this attack. The kids reported the appearance of five arrancar, four Espada and Arisawa-san. However, they only battled four of them: Zommari, Nnoitra, Yammy and Arisawa-san. Meanwhile, Ulquiorra disappeared. I believe that he went to investigate our defensive measures."

"You think Aizen knows about the four pillars?" Just the thought of it sounded outrageous to Isshin. After the nut job that it had been to convince Soul Society to construct a replica of Karakura, suddenly telling them that it was all for nothing because Aizen might have foreseen it would certainly demolish some resolutions.

"I'm afraid he does." Urahara replied. "I just don't know what he plans to do about it."

"So, that's it?" Isshin more stated than inquired as he sighed heavily.

"Basically, we're completely lost as what step to take next."

* * *

I hope everyone had enjoyed this chapter. I'm sorry for the delay. It took me a while to get the fighting scene figured out. Hopefully I won't take as much time with the next chapter.

Thank you to all reviewers and readers.

Also, the title of this chapter was inspired by xSTALKERx.

Hope you keep reading and liking it. And let me know what you think, good or bad.

Ja ne...


	11. Some Memories Are Better Off Forgotten

Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Bleach. Kubo Tite is the sole master behind the scenes.

Second Edition (Nov2011)

* * *

Himitsu

By

Marie Darkholme

**Chapter Eleven:** Some Memories Are Better Off Forgotten

Tatsuki's body was floating. She felt lighter than a feather; lighter than a cloud. It was as if her existence had ceased and she was nothing; but, at the same time, she felt herself slowly imbibed in warm waters as she started sinking in…

_I remember…_

_There was a boy. The moment my fist connected with his face he fell down and started crying. I thought by then that boys weren't supposed to cry, so I was taken back by that little cry-baby's reaction. Why had the sensei put him with me as a sparring partner, it was beyond my comprehension._

_Then, a sweet voice called out. I looked behind the crying boy to see who it was. She was beautiful. The light surrounded her in a way that made her look like some fairy from a tale. The boy took off his protection helmet and a smile splattered across his face. I was dumbfounded. He ran off to her lap and she wiped the wet trails from the fresh tears away. I just stood there. It was like watching a distant memory._

_**A memory?**_ _**And what is it if not a memory…**_

"_Let him go!"_

_Just being me was usually enough to scare off most kids but sending a few punches once in a while helped keeping my badass status. Besides, I was always keen on helping out my friends, or should I say, I was always glad to help Ichigo out. There were two main reasons for this: the first one was that Ichigo was actually my only friend and the second was that he was always getting picked on because of his hair colour._

_His hair was a bright orange, not at all normal in Japan. So, more often than not, kids would pick fights with him, telling him to die his hair black or other meaner things. But Ichigo was very proud of his hair colour and always defended it. Well, mostly it was I who defended it, seeing as he was a bit of a weakling back then._

_When I helped him up, he gave me that goofy smile of his. I missed it ever since. His smile could always make me forget about everything._

_He scratched the back of his head and dusted himself off. "Thanks!"_

"_Hmph!"_ _I started walking away with my hands behind my head, face turned to the clouds. "I don't know what you would do without me..." I sort of complained in a cocky tone. He smiled. I smiled back. He took my hand._

"_Let's make a race to the dojo."_

"_I'm going to beat you up again today, Ichigo."_

_He really was weak._

_**But not anymore, isn't he, Tatsuki-chan?**_

"She'th burning up!" the little arrancar said as she felt the other's temperature with her petit hand. "Can't you do thomething, Pethche?"

"She's not your average arrancar. Besides, I don't have any medical skills." The tall arrancar apologized.

_I remember…_

_The moment my fist connected, the mask shattered and the monstrous thing fell down. Hollows. I hadn't seen one for quite a while. But the screams…that was something I could never actually forget. Neither could I forget the hunger nor the pain. It crossed my chest like nothing I had ever felt. It was as if I was being eaten alive, what, considering the fact that my soul chain was also part of me, could be thought of as true._

_Before I could actually complain about the pain, another one came inside the room. I needn't be a genius to realise that they weren't there by coincidence. If I had been given the time, I would have thought about killing Ulquiorra by then. But I wasn't so lucky as to actually have time to think. _

_The next one was stronger and it took me longer to defeat him. The same happened with the one after it and all the others that came. Each time they were more powerful, each time I had more difficulty defeating them. One by one, their body's pilled up, disappearing shortly after. And with each one that I defeated with my bare hands, the power in me grew. I could feel it as I felt the pain growing in my chest until it became unbearable and the screams were forced out of my throat when the last link on the chain on my chest was consumed._

_But as my power grew, the voice inside me also grew louder and what had been whispers in my ears became cries. It was also in pain and it cried for me to release it, to call out its name; the name that I knew…but for some unknown reason could not remember. A name that had been given to it many years before, when the first light started shining inside me, when destiny decided I was to become a shinigami._

_Its name was Sangai. _((Havoc))

_Another effect of the growing power was the hunger. And with it, the overtake by instinct. It was as if all of me was suddenly a primal beast driven by instinct alone; driven by the anger and the fear I felt. I didn't know how long I had been there, I didn't know if it had been hours, days or months. All I was aware of was the hunger growing, filling and consuming me._

_When the chain finally disappeared, the hunger became intolerable. It must have been a strange sight. I was me but at the same time I wasn't. I had a mask covering my face; my eyes were completely black. I was a hollow. In my right hand a long sword with a blue handle and blade was clutched tightly; I wore a black gi and black hakama. I was a shinigami. If I had stayed like that, maybe I would have turned into a vizard._

_**But you didn't…**_

"_Hello, my name's Arisawa Tatsuki. Let's be friends."_

_My first thought had been: now that Ichigo doesn't need me anymore, what will I do? All my infancy had had him as my centre; protecting him, fighting him, playing with him…It had been Tatsuki and Ichigo for quite a long time. But Ichigo had grown up. I had grown up. He had beaten me for the first time and left the dojo. He had found new friends, and I had been left behind to mourn our distant friendship. Now there was just Tatsuki._

_That's when I met her. The girl with long orange hair. Girls made fun of her and one day her long hair was gone. I made up my mind. I had found a new friend; someone to protect._

_If I had thought harder about it, I would've realised that my concept of friendship had strayed away from normality. Somewhere along my way, friendship had become about me protecting someone. Not that it was wrong to want to protect your friends, but for me that was the central focus of the relationship. I had to have someone that somehow depended on me._

_But, eventually, Orihime stopped needing me._

_**You needed her…but she didn't need you anymore!**_

_Yeah…Orihime turned out to be stronger than me._

_**She deserted you!**_

_It wasn't like that!_

_**She lied to you! **_

_She wasn't given a choice._

_**And what about him?**_

"_I'm quitting karate classes."_

_I was perplexed. No. Maybe that wasn't the right word . At that moment, I thought I was surprised, but I wasn't really. He didn't need me anymore to protect him. He had stopped needing me for quite some time. And last practice, he had finally beaten me. So, I wasn't surprised._

_I was sad._

_**You were friends and he ditched you the moment he stopped needing you. They started despising you the moment they grew stronger. And you were left behind to start again…alone.**_

_I hadn't expected it to actually taste to something. But then again, I hadn't even expected to be eating it. I couldn't even say if I was myself or not anymore. It wasn't really me who drove down that sword and cut the thing's arm. It wasn't me who pushed it to the ground. Neither was I who bit it._

_It tasted bitter. I supposed it was because it was bitter. They were lost souls in search of something to fill the void in their hearts. But part of me liked it. That part of me felt better with itself, felt stronger; but the hunger didn't cease. And so, one by one, **it** started devouring the souls of the hollows attacking us. And with each one, something changed in me._

_**Traitors! All of them are nothing but a bunch of traitors!**_

"_I'm going to my auntie's place for the vacations." She said smiling. _

_I think I smiled back. I'm not sure about it, but I think I did. Such a blunt lie I couldn't even react properly._

"_That's okay. I'm also going to be busy. I have a championship. Be careful at your aunt's."_

_Why the fuck should she be careful at her aunt's? Oh yeah, that's right, I knew she wasn't really going there. Did she notice it? Of course not. She believed I was completely out of the loop. Even though she knew I was spiritually aware, she never once bothered to tell me what had happened. Not once did she even try to give a reasonable explanation for what had happened through those weeks. And, eventually, I think she just forgot it._

_**She forgot about you. But you kept watching over them, trying to understand what was happening. You remembered when the Espada first attacked. But not even then they bothered to give you an explanation. Not even after you almost died. You watched your friends getting their asses whooped. You realised something was up with the strange new student even before they did. But you kept your distance…for your sake. **_

_I knew I had become a burden._

_**You were actually afraid of being cut off any further and that hurt. You were tired of getting hurt like that; of having your feeling crushed as if they didn't exist. **_

_It hurt more to have them turn away from me than what happened inside that room..._

"Can't you fucking do something?" the Espada complained loudly as he kneeled beside the girl. Her face bore a painful expression. She had been out for quite a long time and none of them had managed to awake her.

He traced the outlines of the crack in her hollow dragon skull. It hadn't been the effect of a zanpakutou to cause that, of that he was sure. Instead, it was as if the mask itself was beginning to loose its consistence and would soon disappear into soul particles. As if she would soon disintegrate.

_Sangai's_ _voice had disappeared from my head. And I was slowly vanishing. My clothes had turned white, my skin had become rougher. My nails had elongated in a way that it looked as if blades were coming out of my fingers. My otherwise white mask gained tones of blue and the hunger suddenly stopped. And that's the first time I saw it. That space where Sangai had always been, the place where it was always cloudy._

_It was immense. Tall white sakura trees were scattered around looking like small islands in the immensity of black water under my feet. I walked through it, amazed at how I didn't sink, dressed in my shihakushou. Then, something started falling down. Blue petals made their way from the white branches of the trees down to the ground._

_**And you heard it…**_

…_your voice._

_**I had been watching for quite some time, hidden under the black sea inside you. I was filled with your pain and sorrow. I was filled with your memories. In my eyes, you were pitiful and yet…I sympathized with you.**_

_You grinned. The moment I saw your face, I knew who you were. You were me. _

_**I was you.**_

_And yet, you weren't. The tree branches caught fire and started burning in blue when you touched me and whispered in my ear. _

_**I'm going to consume you.**_

In her inner world, Tatsuki hugged her knees, sinking deeper in the black sea around her. From the sky, dark rain helped to fill the endless mass of water.

_Ichigo…it's raining inside my world. I'm hurt. I'm crying. I'm longing…_

_I hate the rain. I hate it because it hurts me to remember when you lost your smile. I hate it because it hurts me to remember when I lost you._

_**If it hadn't been for him, I would have taken you, my dear Tatsuki-chan. **_The hollow replied as it trapped Tatsuki in its embrace, its arms over her shoulders as it pulled her out of the water and hovered above the surface. _It was close. So close… _

_**But Ulquiorra had mess things up. Do you remember? **_The hollow's hand started coming down to Tatsuki's chest and stopped over the bandages, right in the space between her breasts, tracing the open scar.

_**Do you remember how he stormed into the room? How we tossed him aside as if he was nothing but a piece of garbage?**_

_Ichigo… _

_**How we pierced him?**_

_Ichigo…_

_**STOP THINKING ABOUT HIM!**_ The hollow cried enraged. _**If you hadn't been calling out his name, we would have killed Ulquiorra and he would have never managed to crave that hole in our chest!**_

"_I'm happy you're alive…"_

_If I hadn't been calling out his name, I would have been consumed. Some memories are better off forgotten, but at that moment it was the memory of my friends that kept me sane and allowed me to regain control. It was Ichigo's memory that kept me from turning on them._

_**Yes, that shithead! How can you still be on his side? He left you behind! They all did! They don't care what happens to you. How can you still believe in them?**_

_Because I know they love me regardless. Because I know that, no matter what happens, I love him._

Tatsuki's body twitched in pain. The fresh wounds on her chest started bleeding once again. But along with the new wounds, other ancient injuries had resurfaced; ones that had never completely healed. Her battered body was lying on the tainted sand, Grimmjow's jacket under her; her clothes were drenched in her own blood.

"Her wounds have opened up again!" the Espada shouted. "Didn't you say your disgusting vomit would heal her, you dimwit?" Grimmjow complained as he stared into the short arrancar in front of him.

"Nell thaid it would help. But Nell can't heal everything." The girl defended herself as she grabbed the dragon's hand. Tatsuki's nails had become a shade of dark blue while she was out of it.

"Ichigo…" the sound was that of a whisper. It had happened a few times by then. Still, Grimmjow couldn't bother to be upset. In fact, he didn't feel upset at all, which amazed him. There he was, joining in with outcasts from Las Noches, the previous Tercera Espada, Neliel, and her fracción, after having defeated Nnoitra for that girl, and she was calling out his enemy's name. _Damn that Kurosaki Ichigo..._ But it didn't matter.

He was just happy that the three friends had managed to snatch Tatsuki away from his battle with the Quinto Espada. She might have gotten hurt if she had been left alone there, but Neliel and her friends had taken care of the girl. They had done it even before they knew she was Ichigo's friend.

"She needs someone with better healing skills. Nell's abilities won't do her any good in her current state." Pesche stated.

Grimmjow touched the bandages in the dragon's chest. The injury that had been caused by Ulquiorra had started bleeding even though it was supposed to have completely healed by then. The last time he had seen something like that had been on Kurosaki Ichigo's chest.

"Perhaps you should take her back to Las Noches." The same tall arrancar suggested.

The Espada pondered the idea for a while. Could anyone in Las Noches heal her? He wasn't sure about how good the medical team was. But there was always Aizen. The cursed shinigami was so damn strong that perhaps he could actually be good enough with healing kidou to heal that wound once and for all, as well as the others that Tatsuki had suffered. But would he do it? Grimmjow didn't have any time to loose. He needed to make a decision in that moment, otherwise his friend would die.

_Is this how it feels?_ He inquired himself. _To actually worry about someone?_ _I thought that arrancar didn't have these sort of feelings, but maybe it was I who was trying to keep my feelings away._

"Tatthuki…" Nell eyed the girl with puppy sad eyes. That arrancar was Ichigo's friend. She missed Ichigo. He had had to leave Hueco Mundo and Nell couldn't follow him. She didn't know what compelled her to help the black haired arrancar lying in front of her. At first, they had stayed to see what was happening. It was strange that two arrancar from Las Noches were fighting each other. And then, Grimmjow had appeared. Grimmjow had been defeated by Ichigo. They were enemies and yet the Espada had defeated Nnoitra in order to protect the girl.

While the two Espada were fighting, Nell had escaped from Pesche and Dondochakka and run to check on the girl. There was something familiar about her. She was a shinigami. But she was also an arrancar. It was just like Ichigo's mask, except that the girl's mask was always there. Maybe it had been that that had made her act, maybe it had been something else. She didn't know, but she was happy that it had happened. She had been given the chance to partially retribute Ichigo's kindness towards her by helping out one of his friends when he wasn't around. She was sure that Ichigo would be happy about it.

But, unfortunately, Tatsuki's condition was worse than they had thought. The accumulation of unhealed injuries and something else had completely drained her. She had taken quite a beating and no matter what they did they couldn't get her to heal nor to wake up.

Grimmjow clenched his fist and hit the sand besides him. Sliding his right hand under Tatsuki's neck and his left arm under her knees he stood up, holding her in his arms. He had made a decision. It hurt his pride and it was risky, but he would face it if it meant saving that woman in his arms.

"What're you doing? You can't move Tatthuki-chan…thhe'll get worthe!" the little arrancar cried out as he adjusted Tatsuki's body against his bare chest.

"I'm going to take her to the only person that can surely heal her." He stated before disappearing in a sonido, leaving behind the three arrancar, along with his bloodied jacket.

"What was that?"

The orange haired shinigami was thrown back to hit and destroy a large rock behind him before his mask cracked and he scrambled to his feet a few metres away.

"What the fuck are you doing, baldy?" Hiyori yelled at him while preparing to launch yet another cero.

"Calm down, Hiyori." Shinji pushed the girl's arm down before she could hit Ichigo with her cero, making the large energy ball hit the floor under them where Kensei had been seconds before.

Ichigo stood up and dusted himself off. After having allowed Tatsuki to be taken back to Hueco Mundo and without being able to pursue her, he was left with nothing besides training. He couldn't even bare being in classes knowing she was somewhere in Las Noches or worse, dead. Since then, he had kept his senses alert to any reiatsu change in the area. And that had just happened.

An increased amount of reiatsu had just entered Karakura. He relaxed when he recognized their owners. It seemed that Seireitei had heard about the Espada attack and sent back their forces to protect the city.

"It's those assholes of Seireitei!" the short blond haired vizard cursed as she removed her mask and joined her companions.

"As always, they're way too late." Shinji replied. "You should probably go there. They'll want to talk to you." He continued, turning to the orange haired vizard.

"I've got to keep training. They don't need me there." Ichigo brought out his mask. "Hey toothy, are you coming or what?"

"Hell yeah, shithead." The other vizard raised her zanpakutou and prepared to charge but was taken back to her previous seat. "What the fuck, Shinji?" she shouted angry.

"You haven't been home for two whole days, Ichigo-chin." Mashiro jumped from her spot and tried to get a piggy back ride on Kensei. The silver haired vizard pulled her off him annoyed. Couldn't they stop throwing things at him?

"Mashiro-chan is right, Ichigo-san." The large kidou expert vizard replied.

"You should take some time out, Ichigo. Go see your family; your sisters are probably worried about ya." Hirako backed up his friends.

Ichigo sighed. They were right. Even though Kon was around, Karin was probably worried about him, seeing as she knew about the entire shinigami deal. Not only that, he hadn't seen none of his friends since the attack. He knew they were all okay but he hadn't seen any of them. He would have to face Orihime, eventually, even if he didn't want to. _I wonder if Renji managed to keep her in the dark._ He thought. But even if the airheaded girl didn't know about Tatsuki's current condition, she would eventually find out.

"You're right." He finally said, resting Zangetsu on his back, his mask disappearing into several soul particles. "I'll go see how things are going. See you, guys!" and flash-stepping through the large opening that led to the outside of the training field of the vizard, he slipped through Hachi's shield and jumped through the roofs to Urahara Shouten, where he was sure everyone would meet.

He hadn't been wrong. When he arrived, minutes later, everyone was already gathered. The room had suddenly become too small to hold everyone. As soon as he arrived, he received a painful hit on the head.

"Where the hell have you been?" Rukia shouted as he entered. "Yuzu and Karin have been asking about you all the time."

He eyed her incredulously. "You didn't put Kon in my body?"

"Of course not." The black haired shinigami crossed her arms over her chest. "You said you didn't want the pervert stuffed toy near your classmates ever again, remember? What was I supposed to do, leave him wondering around?"

"Damn you, Ruki…" he was cut off by the stares everyone was giving both him and Rukia.

"Kurosaki-san, so glad you could join us." Urahara greeted him in his usual laughing voice hidden behind his fan.

"Hmm…right! Sorry about that." He scratched the back of his head. "So, Toushirou, why are you here?" he asked as he watched the smaller captain.

Toushirou's eyebrows twitched and he took a deep breath. "It's Hitsugaya-taichou for you, Kuros..."

"Taichou, don't be so uptight all the time!" his lieutenant quickly muffed his scold in the middle of her large breasts before running off to Orihime whom she hugged tightly, her cheek colliding with the other girl's cheek.

"Orihime-chan, I've missed you soooo much!" she cried. The orange haired girl smiled as she felt her bones being crushed under the strong hold of the blond haired shinigami. "We're gonna crash at your house again, right, Toushiro-kun?"

"It's Hitsugaya…" the captain was interrupted by Matsumoto once again.

"Renji, are Keigo and Mizuiro alright?" Ichigo inquired the red haired shinigami as they both walked a bit away from the rest of the group, ignoring the discussion between the lieutenant and her captain.

"You're two days too late, Ichigo." Renji shook his head with a mocking smile. "Of course they are. Orihime-san healed them right away."

Ichigo raised his eyebrows. "Does she know?"

The red haired shinigami glanced behind to be sure that neither Rukia nor Orihime were in ear range. Both the girls were in the middle of a talk with Matsumoto-fukutaichou. "No. Urahara managed to omit it. Neither do Rukia, Sado and Ishida. But you do know that they'll have to know sooner or later, don't you?"

The vizard sighed. "Yeah, I know. I just wished there was something I could do before that."

"Besides…" Renji eyed the short captain that was still arguing with his fukutaichou. "…it's not only Inoue you have to worry about."

Ichigo raised his brows in a questioning look, but before he could say what was on his mind, they were interrupted by Ikkaku patting the vizard on the back. "Heard you got your ass kicked...again." The bald shinigami mocked as things started to calm down again and everyone sat down. Ichigo gave him a sad smile but was excused from replying because Urahara chose that moment to start talking.

"News travel fast to Seireitei." He commented, keeping his fan in front of his face. Histsugaya gave him a disapproving glance. It was obvious that the short captain didn't trust the ex-captain. Why? Well, there were enough reasons, but mostly, he found Urahara too shadowy to be trusted.

However, for some unknown reason, Yamomoto-soutaichou seemed to give him some credit. Perhaps that was due to the fact that Urahara Kisuke had been falsely accused all those years ago.

"Yamamoto-soutaichou sent us out to protect Karakura in case Aizen decides to launch a new attack. The entire Gotei 13 is in high alert to the risk of Espada attacks in both Soul Society and Karakura. We've already been updated with the knowledge you gained from your last battle, so we're just going to spread out like last time and keep our eyes open." The captain quickly explained. "There are other issues as well, but those I can only discuss with Urahara Kisuke and Shihouin Yoruichi."

"You're basically throwing us out of here, Hitsugaya-taichou." Renji replied. His feelings had obviously been hurt. But then again, he didn't really care what the higher ranks had to discuss. If it was something important, Urahara was bond to tell them later on, so he just stood and left, the rest of the crew following in his footsteps.

As they left, Matsumoto escorted Orihime back to the orange haired woman's house, leaving the rest of the group behind.

"I guess we're going to have to sleep outside this time." Yumichika complained.

"Nah, let's just go to Asano-san's house. I bet his sister will welcome us back." The bald shinigami replied as he disappeared in shunpo. The black haired rolled his eyes before following his friend.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow then." Renji replied as he prepared to leave, but he was stopped by Rukia's hand clutching his shihakushou and pulling him back. The fukutaichou eyed her confused. Only then he noticed who the remaining members of the group were: Ichigo, Rukia, Ishida, Sado and himself. He exchanged a nervous glance with Ichigo, who tried his best not to look as someone who was hiding something. They both failed miserably.

"Now that Inoue-san is not here, would you mind telling us what is really happening?" Ishida pushed his glasses up his nose. His face was as serious as always but the tone on his voice indicated that he wouldn't take any bullshits for answer. Before either Renji or Ichigo could continue, he exposed the situation. "I'm aware that one of the arrancar that appeared two days ago wasn't quite normal. Also, don't forget that I was always good tracking reiatsu, so don't try to fool around. Who was that arrancar?"

Ichigo bit his bottom lip. His three friends were eyeing him expectantly. It was obvious that Ishida already knew about Tatsuki. Like he, himself, had done before, Ishida was just looking for a confirmation, because he couldn't believe it himself. As for Rukia, the damned midget had always been too good for her own good to know how he was feeling. She must have acknowledged something was wrong the moment he had allowed himself to burst out. And Chad, well, he might look dumb, but don't forget he was better ranked in the school's exams than himself.

He had known that questions were going to have to be answered; he just hadn't expected it to be so soon.

"We know something's up, Ichigo, so why don't you just tell us what you know?" Rukia leaned against the wall in a clear expression of I can continue this all night.

Taking a deep breath, the vizard looked carefully at his three ignorant friends. "That arrancar that you're talking about was Tatsuki." He replied. _There, said it!_ It was actually a sort of relieve to say it out loud.

"Who else knows about this?" the female shinigami asked, perplexed by the news. _Now I get the entire cover-up. If Inoue finds out about this…I don't even want to think how she'll handle it._

"Keigo and Mizuiro. And Urahara-san and Yoruichi-san." Ichigo said.

"Is she on their side?" the Quincy asked unaware that he was actually afraid of the answer. Arisawa had never been someone he had paid attention to in class. Still, he knew she was spiritually aware for quite some time. But since the girl had never said anything, he thought that it wasn't in his duties to tell anyone. She had been a fiery person when she was human; as an arrancar, she would surely be an enemy to fear.

"No, she's on our side." The vizard quickly replied, giving no space for doubts. Because there were no doubts in his mind that Tatsuki was on his side. She had been by his side since he could remember. _**Even after what you did to her. That wasn't very nice, King.**_ His hollow mocked. Ichigo ignored him.

"What happened to her?" Chad voiced the question floating around in everyone's head.

It took him about two to three minutes to inform the rest of the group what had happened. Everyone was quiet. They had distanced themselves enough from Urahara Shouten as not to be spotted in case Hitsugaya-taichou exited to meet his lieutenant Matsumoto. Rukia was sitting on top of the wall of a house. Ishida was straightening his glasses in a very stiff position besides Sado, who had leaned against the wall along with Renji, Ichigo standing in front of them all as he told the story.

"Neither one of you knows Tatsuki as well as I know…" he paused. "…or at least, as I used to. I've been neglecting her for quite some time now." He admitted. "So, I didn't want to get you involved. Also, she asked us not to tell Inoue. Because of that, I decided to leave to Hueco Mundo on my own and get her back. But Urahara-san didn't let me."

"And he was damn right, _baka_ Ichigo." Rukia scolded. "You can't just barge inside Hueco Mundo alone like that."

Ichigo scowled. "I would do it for you. I was going to do it for Inoue. You don't know what Tatsuki means to me. I would go to Hell to get her back if needed to." He shouted angry. Then a small blush covered his cheeks when he realised what he had just implied.

Sado looked away, unsure if he should look straight at his best friend. Rukia smirked and rolled her eyes. Renji hid a small chuckle while Ishida merely adjusted his glasses, even though they were in a perfect position on top of his nose.

The vizard forced a cough. "Anyway, Urahara made me realise it wasn't very wise to just go there." _**Be serious, Ichigo. The only reason you listened to that asshole was because if he wasn't going to open the Garganta for you, there was really nothing you could do. It's not as if you can open it by yourself.**_ _Shut the fuck up. What do you know about any of this? __**Chill, King.**__**I'm just clearing the facts here.**_

"So, unless Urahara opens the gate, there's nothing we can do about it." Rukia stated as she jumped off the wall.

Ichigo nodded sadly. "No. Unless you know how to open the Garganta, we have to stay put and wait."

"Then we should probably get home. Your sisters have been worried about you."

And the five of them walked away, each their separate way, except for Rukia and Ichigo that walked together to the Kurosaki's Clinic.

Later that night, Ichigo was lying down on his bed, his hands behind his head, staring at the ceiling. Rukia had been asleep for about an hour. Kon had finally settled as well, and the house was silent. It looked as if he was the only person awake.

"_What the fuck were you doing?" she smacked me in my already injured head. _

"_Ouch! That hurt, Tatsuki." I winced rubbing the back of my head. I was sure I was going to get a bump. Not only that, my nose was bleeding. At least it wasn't broken. While I tried to keep the blood from falling over my clothes, not that they could get much dirtier, she took out some cotton and stuffed it up my nose. "Thanks!"_

_She sighed. "Just how many times have I told you to keep your hands up? One of these days…" she didn't complete the phrase._

_I remember we just sat on her bed for what seemed like a long time. Tatsuki's room was everything except feminine. Sometimes, I even forgot she was a girl. That wasn't one of those moments. When I looked into her eyes I saw something. She was worried. She was truly concerned._

_My hand moved to her shoulder. Her skin was smooth. "Are you okay?"_

_She eyed me as if I was asking the weirdest thing in the world. "Of course I am." But her eyes told me something different._

"_It's not even broken." I gave her one of my half smiles. She smiled back. Picking a large Band-Aid, she covered the wound on her knee. No other girl had so many scars and bruises as Tatsuki. "Look, it's alright, Tatsuki. You don't need to worry. I can take care of myself now. This is nothing."_

_She smiled. "Yeah, I know."_

_Had it always been there, that sorrowful look in her eyes? Had it always been there, that hint of loneliness in her voice?_

Divagating through his memories, his eyes slowly started to close. It seemed the restless nights had finally caught up with him and he was too tired to fight back the heaviness of his eyelids. That was until something woke him up.

For two days he had been waiting for something. And it seemed that something had finally arrived. Quickly but silently, he took his shinigami badge and left his body behind when he jumped through the window of his room to the roof of the house in front of his.

* * *

Hello everyone...should I run?

Hope you've enjoyed the chapter. Thanks to all reviewers and thanks to all readers.

What will happen? Is Tatsuki going to die?

Ja ne, minna!


	12. Race Against Time

Disclaimer: hmm, I don't own Bleach. Kubo Tite does. But the plot is all mine...my precious...

Second Edition (Nov2011)

* * *

Himitsu

By

Marie Darkholme

**Chapter Twelve:** Race Against Time

Hitsugaya stretched his arms before lying back against the wall with his hands crossed behind his head. The night was cold and breezy. But he liked the cold. Some clouds floated in the sky above him and the moon shone brightly between them. He closed his eyes and allowed his mind to divagate. The discussion with Urahara Kisuke and Shiouhin Yoruichi had gone well. Apparently, the preparations for the war with Aizen were still under effect and ready to be used at any moment.

Ever since Aizen had escaped to Hueco Mundo and his goal had been discovered, Yamamoto-soutaichou had made a special request to Urahara Kisuke. He had asked the ex-captain to build a gate with sufficient resistance to hold the passage of Captain level officers at full force through the worlds. Knowing about Aizen's plans to use Karakura city to create the King's Key, Urahara had asked something in return: an exact replica of the entire city so that the people could be transported into a safe location within Rukongai while the final battle was held in the actual Karakura.

Yamamoto-soutaichou had agreed and the construction began immediately. They were ready to switch the real Karakura to Soul Society and send three captains to Hueco Mundo to help Kurosaki and his friends while the others prepared to fight in Karakura when something unexpected happened; they received news that Kurosaki Ichigo and his friends had returned to Karakura with Inoue Orihime.

His phone beeped and the short captain quickly sat removing it from his gigai's pants. It signalled the presence of a hollow a little to the south side. Stretching his reiatsu, he felt Ikkaku's presence in the area and allowed himself to relax. The shinigami could easily handle a hollow of that level alone.

Still, as he lied back down against the wall, he couldn't help thinking it was sort of strange for a hollow to appear after six months of inactivity from Hueco Mundo. That could only mean that the gates had been opened again, which meant that Aizen was preparing to take action. He closed his eyes, drifting away in his inner world, but, at the same time, conscious of the spiritual energies all around him.

He could feel his lazy lieutenant's reiatsu in the building under him along with the spiritual energy of Inoue Orihime. The two women appeared to have created some sort of bond. Matsumoto had been asking to come to the Human realm ever since she had known Kurosaki and his friends had retrieved Inoue from Hueco Mundo. She had been upset by the fact that they hadn't been authorized to go rescue the girl.

While Matsumoto-fukutaichou was taking a long bubble bath, Orihime was preparing to go to sleep. She set her futon in the usual place and put on her pyjamas before setting her alarm clock and lying down. She could hear the water running in the bathroom and a soft humming. A smile crossed her features. She had missed having someone to keep her company in the house, even if Rangiku could be kind of loud and noisy sometimes.

Turning around in her futon, she curled herself into fetal position. She felt strangely upset about something. Since the day that they had been attacked by the arrancar, she had felt that something was being kept from her. Something that she should know but they wouldn't tell her. And she knew she wasn't the only one feeling like that. The looks that Sado, Ishida and Rukia had launched to Kurosaki and Abarai had been a clear sign she hadn't been the only one being left out of the loop.

_Now that I think about it more clearly, Kurosaki-kun was behaving strangely today._ She thought. He had disappeared for two days, not even going to classes. Of course that judging by the lack of his huge spiritual pressure around, everyone knew that he was, once again, training with the vizard. _But for him not to even go home? Something must have happened in the last fight. Was Kurosaki-kun beaten? No! He took off too quickly for him to be significantly injured and immediately went to the vizard which can only mean he wasn't beaten._

Inoue moved around to face the other side. _And what exactly were Asano-san and Kojima-san doing there with Abarai-kun? They all eyed me with that strange look in their eyes. I'm sure that something happened, but why wouldn't they tell me about it?_

She didn't know whether she was more bothered by the fact that there was something happening that she didn't know about or the fact that her friends had purposely neglected to inform her. She turned around and faced the ceiling of the room. The water stopped running and she could hear Rangiku's wet feet moving across the bathroom. _So, this is how it feels to be left outside?_ She thought, suddenly realising that that must have been how Tatsuki had felt all that time. She felt her chest heavy with guilt. _I haven't been to her room for two days. And in these six months, I haven't once gone to see her parents. Tatsuki-chan's mom was always nice to me._

_She was always spending so much time with me, but her mom never cared. I would go there all the time and we would hang around in Tatsuki-chan's room._

"_You're actually the only other person besides Ichigo-kun that Tatsuki-chan has ever brought home with her." Her mom once told me._

At that moment, Orihime realised how sad Tatsuki must have really been when she realised that both her friends were distancing themselves from her. She realised that, even though Tatsuki was a kind-hearted person, she didn't have that many close friends; friends in whom she could confide and trust. In fact, there was only her and probably Ichigo feeling that category.

The orange haired woman turned around and curled herself into a tiny human ball, her long hair falling out of the pillow and spreading over the futon. Some tears rolled down her cheek to the pillow. She felt something soft and warm against her back and realised that the blond haired fukutaichou had crept into the room and dressing only a revealing nightgown had latched herself onto Orihime's curling form.

"Orihime-chan, you're sad again. Is it because of Ichigo and Kuchiki?" she asked.

The human shook her head briefly. She didn't know how it was supposed to feel having her mother holding her in her arms, but she thought that it would be similar to what she felt when Rangiku comforted her.

"Then what is it?"

Orihime tried to keep herself from crying harder but her efforts were in vain and the tears started rolling down her face faster as she convulsed in the shinigami's embrace.

"I was thinking…" she stuttered, her voice muffled by the pillow and a bundle of orange and blond hair over her face. "…I was really mean to my best friend…Tatsuki-chan…she must have felt…really lonely…" her words disappeared between her cries.

It was like this that Hitsugaya found the two women when he entered through the window of Inoue's apartment to get something to eat before going back to his surveillance spot. He couldn't help smiling. Sometimes Matsumoto seemed so much more mature than she usually acted out like. He walked to the kitchen and picked up an apple from a fruit basket.

He was about to take a first bite on it when his cell phone beeped again. Getting slightly annoyed by the interruptions he grumpily removed it from its spot to check what was up that time. He rolled his eyes. _Guess this time I really have to deal with it._ He complained inwardly before leaving his gigai and jumping out the window.

Ichigo looked around him. Everything was silent. He was in the exact location where he had felt the spiritual presence just a few minutes before. But even though he couldn't see anyone he was sure someone had been there. There was still some spiritual energy hanging in the air around him. At that moment he couldn't say what category of hollow had arrived but earlier he had felt a familiar strong reiatsu; strong enough to be that of an Espada.

A sound from behind him made him turn and he took Zangetsu from his back. He tried to concentrate. There was definitely something there. The second the mysterious figure moved again, the vizard intercept it, stopping Zangetsu near the intruder's throat. His eyes widened.

"Grimmjow!" he groaned surprised. "What the fuck are you do…" his words were lost when he noticed there was something the Espada was holding carefully in his arms. His face hardened and Zangetsu's tip dangerously approached Grimmjow's throat, drawing a small line immediately filled with blood. "What the fuck did you do to her?" Ichigo growled angry.

The Espada didn't move. "I need to see Inoue Orihime." He replied taking a step back.

"The hell you will. Give Tatsuki back!" Ichigo shouted.

"Fuck you, Kurosaki! I don't have time for this." Grimmjow yelled back. "I need that woman now. Arisawa needs to be healed. She's fucking dying here!" the worry behind his anger was obvious, even to Ichigo.

The vizard was a bit unsure but ended up putting Zangetsu back on its usual place before carefully approaching the Espada. _Is this happening for real? _He thought as he observed Tatsuki's motionless, battered, bloody form in Grimmjow's arms. She was in really bad shape. The bandages around her chest were drenched in blood that was tainting the Espada's chest. There were cuts and bruises all over her. He noticed Grimmjow wasn't without his injuries either. He bit his lip, trying to reach a decision.

"Alright, give her to me; I'll take her to Inoue." Ichigo stretched out his arms and was preparing to take Tatsuki from the Espada when Grimmjow backed away.

"You can't take her there. There are shinigami with her, they'll kill Arisawa." Grimmjow stated. He knew Ichigo and his friends would never do anything to harm Tatsuki, but he didn't trust the ones that were from Soul Society. They would allow Inoue Orihime to heal her; but then, they would make sure she was taken to Seireitei so she could be interrogated and then killed.

"No they won't. She's my friend." Ichigo replied, but he was actually having his own doubts. He remembered Renji's warning. The Espada was actually right. Going by Soul Society's usual procedures they wouldn't be merciful enough to leave Tatsuki alone just because she was his friend.

"Are you crazy Kurosaki…" Grimmjow's words were interrupted when he felt a third presence approaching fast. Ichigo seemed to have realized there was someone going their way as well. He cursed. _Just my luck!_ Both him and Grimmjow disappeared into an alley not far of the place they had been before.

"Stay here! Don't move, don't breathe and keep you reiatsu under control." He ordered Grimmjow. The panther growled. _Who does he think he is, giving me orders like this?_ He thought, but was quickly silenced when the third presence made itself visible jumping the roof just above his head. Ichigo had already disappeared. The girl in his arms moaned and he was forced to cover her mouth, afraid she would give their position away.

Ichigo quickly reappeared from between the building, holding his zanpakutou. He stopped on top of a roof and eyed the new comer.

"Toushirou!" he exclaimed when he saw the short captain.

"It's Hitsugaya-taichou, Kurosaki!" the silver haired captain scolded before giving a long sigh. _I honestly don't know why I still bother._ "What happened?"

Ichigo put Zangetsu on his back and flash-stepped in front of the other shinigami with a disinterested look on his face. "Just some low-level hollow…" he lied. The captain raised an eyebrow.

"I was informed of a Garganta opening and a menos-level hollow, at minimum, coming through it." Hitsugaya replied.

The vizard was nervous for a second. "Oh! Well, it could have been a menos. I suck at feeling reiatsu anyway, so I don't really know what level it was. But is mustn't been much because it was done for very quickly." He commented. "Well, I think I'm going back home. I need some rest since I'm planning on going to classes tomorrow." He laughed out as he used shunpo to move away. Seconds later, he could feel Hitsugaya doing the same and heading away to Inoue's house. He sighed relieved.

To be sure, he should have waited longer before heading back, but he just couldn't wait a second longer. He quickly made his way back to the alley where Grimmjow was still waiting.

"That was a close one." The Espada murmured. "Look, Kurosaki, I hate you and you I know you don't like me either. And I'm fine with it. But right now, I don't really care. Can't you get that healing woman here?" his blue eyes looked down concernedly. He had already lost too much time. Between carrying Tatsuki, concealing his reiatsu and opening the Garganta, he had wasted too much damn time.

Ichigo was thinking hard of something to do. But he just couldn't think of a way of getting Tatsuki to Inoue. And to go get the orange haired girl at that moment would be too suspicious. Not only that, he wasn't sure what Inoue's reaction would be once she saw Tatsuki had been turned into an arrancar.

_What should I do? _He thought desperately. It then occurred him something. "Give her to me, Grimmjow. I'll make sure she'll be safe." He told the Espada.

"What?" Grimmjow was about to complain when he looked back down to Tatsuki. She didn't have any time to waste. It wasn't needed a specialist in reiatsu to know at least that. Reluctantly, the blue eyed arrancar placed Tatsuki in Ichigo's arms.

"I'll be sticking around until she gets better." He told him before the vizard disappeared in shunpo.

Ichigo flash-stepped away as fast as he could, holding Tatsuki tightly against his chest. Her body was almost weightless in his arms. He bit his bottom lip. There was so much blood over her. His keikogi was already tainted with it and the thick red liquid's smell was penetrating his nostrils.

Finally he reached his destination. He was going to enter when he hit against the invisible barrier. He cursed his damned luck. The barrier would let him get in but not Tatsuki. She was a strange spiritual energy, not recognized. He did the next thing that came to his mind.

"Hachiiii!" his reiatsu spiked. That would be enough for any spiritually aware person to feel, which was a dangerous thing to do, seeing as it would alert everyone to his current position as well. On the other hand, it was also enough to make Shinji slip through the barrier and almost punch him in the face.

"What the hell are you doing…?" the insult that Shinji had planned along with the beating session was put on halt when he noticed Ichigo's flustered expression. His eyes fell down on the girl in his companion's arms and he suddenly was at a lost of what to say.

"I need Hachi-san!" Ichigo almost cried out, very close to losing his cool.

When he entered the abandoned warehouse that was the headquarters of the vizard, the large vizard met him immediately.

"What's wrong, Ichigo-san?" Hachigen asked. But when he saw the youngest of all vizard, he immediately understood what was required of him. Ichigo carefully put down Tatsukion the ground where Hachi commanded him to.

"Is she an arrancar?" Mashiro asked as she peeked over the large man's shoulder. Kensei climbed down a large steel bar supporting the building where he had been taking a nap and pulled Mashiro away.

"Whoever she is, she's in pretty bad shape." Roujuurou commented as he too approached, putting aside his guitar.

"What the fuck! Ichigo, you brought an arrancar here?" Hiyori's hand was stopped in middle air by Shinji when she was preparing to hit Ichigo in the head with her flip-flop.

"She's pretty cute for an arrancar." Lisa said as she took her eyes from the erotic manga she was reading and watched the commotion as well.

"Ichigo-san, why didn't you take her to Inoue-chan?" Hachigen asked as he made a quick check for the girl's wounds. With a small kidou spell he cut the bandages around her chest. The ligatures fell down, barely covering her breasts. Another time, Ichigo would have probably looked away or thrown something to cover her up, but that wasn't the time for blushing at such a trivial thing. He eyed astonished the wound in her chest. Then, his astonishment turned into anger as he touched his own chest. He clenched his fists tightly. Retribution would come sooner or later. Of that, Ulquiorra Schiffer could be sure.

"Who's she?" Love had joined the rest of the vizard as they all formed a circle around Hachigen, Ichigo and Tatsuki.

"Can you heal her, Hachi?" Shinji asked as he approached Ichigo and laid a hand on the orange haired shinigami's shoulder. He could feel the vizard's eyes on him. The pink haired ex-shinigami nodded and started to heal the wound on the girl's chest.

"You know her, Shinji?" Hiyori rubbed her sore wrist. Sometimes, the bastard didn't realise the strength he had.

"She was one of Ichigo's and Orihime-chan's classmates. I remember seeing her in the classroom. She was also the only survivor from the first attack of the Espada and she was supposed to be in a coma in the hospital." Silence fell among everyone in the room.

"This is the girl berry-tan has been all depressed about?" Mashiro popped behind the large pink haired vizard to take another look at the girl. This time Kensei didn't bother pulling her away. "But hadn't she been run over by a car?"

"It looks as if I was right, huh, Ichigo? Arisawa-chan didn't try to commit suicide. It was only a trick to take her to Hueco Mundo." Shinji sat on the floor by Ichigo's side. "Still, it doesn't explain how she ended up here nor why she's all beaten up. And why did you bring her to us?"

Ichigo took Tatsuki's hand in his. Only then he noticed the piercing wound on her wrist as if a blade had impaled it. There was sand on it. It had been obvious that she had been fighting someone in Hueco Mundo before Grimmjow brought her. Judging by his own state, Ichigo could only conclude that either the Espada had fought against Tatsuki or saved her from whoever she was fighting. He felt himself compelled to discard the first option. _Why would Grimmjow beat her up so badly and then bring her here for us to heal her? As much as the fact that he's friends with her surprises me, the only logical explanation is that he actually saved her._

It had been someone else who had tortured Tatsuki. His eyes fell upon the wound Hachi was trying to heal with obvious effort. _But that is not from recent. I can see that it had partially healed before it opened again. _He looked at the other wound on her chest, the slash that he had opened with Gestuga Tenshou. He had seen Tatsuki perform some healing kidou on it, but it was bleeding again. _She didn't even have time to heal her wounds before she got into another fight._ He cursed. It was then that it hit him.

"_You know what, bitch? I'm not going to kill you here. I'll just wait to do it in Hueco Mundo after I see Grimmjow's face when he discovers his girlfriend is a freaking shinigami."_

"Nnoitra!" Ichigo concluded, recalling the Quinto Espada's threat. He felt like going to Hueco Mundo that same instant and beat the hell out of the bastard.

"Ichigo!" a voice woke him up from his thoughts.

"Huh? What?" he asked confused.

"You need to tell us what you know." Roujuurou spoke up. Only then did the orange haired teenager notice that the entire vizard group had sat around and was waiting for him to tell them what had happened. He didn't feel like telling the story, but he had no other choice. He sighed.

When he finished explaining how he had first realized that Tatsuki had been taken by Ulquiorra; how he found out they had turned her into an arrancar just a little bit out of normal; how they had taken her back and Nnoitra had promised to kill her; how Grimmjow had brought her back from Hueco Mundo, the vizard were completely speechless.

"You mean to say that an Espada, moreover, the one you fought and defeated, saved her and brought her here so that Inoue Orihime could heal her?" Hiyori exclaimed. "That's just fucking unbelievable. Are you sure you didn't hit your head, baldy?"

"And, you're trying to tell us that that girl is not a normal arrancar and can perform both bankai and resurrection?" Kensei raised an eyebrow.

"Ichigo, you do know that when plus become hollows and lose their chain of fate, they lose their memories, don't you? And even as an arrancar she can't remember what she was like when she was still a human soul." Love explained.

"You are all correct, but I saw her bankai with my own eyes. And you can see her hollow mask. And I'm telling you that she remembers everything. She saved two of our friends risking her own life and exposing herself by doing so." He explained.

As a clue to support Ichigo's statement, Tatsuki moaned in her slumber. "Ichigo…"

"You know…" Shinji started as he felt for Tatsuki's spiritual energy. "If her transformation had been similar to ours, and by this I mean, if she had acquired shinigami powers before her hollow powers, than, perhaps, it might be possible for her to have both things and remember her past life." He stated. "And her reiatsu does feel different from both ours and that of any arrancar we've encountered until now."

"So, she's somewhere between a vizard and an arrancar?" Lisa asked as she eyed the strange crack in Tatsuki's dragon hollow mask.

"I would guess so. But you know I'm not a scientist. We should have Urahara examine her."

"It's too dangerous. That's why I didn't take her there in the first place. Toushirou-taichou is here and I'm sure he wouldn't think twice before sending Tatsuki to Soul Society the moment he found out about her. It doesn't really matter to them whether she's on our side or not. I won't risk it. I don't want Tatsuki to end up in the 12th Squad's laboratory." Ichigo stated firmly.

Hiyori blinked her eyes and moved her face so no one could see her. _That was probably what would happen. _She looked back to the girl lying down. In a way, that girl had just become one of them. She hated humans. And she hated shinigami. After Soul Society decreed their deaths, she realised how narrow minded they really were, unwilling to accept anything different. It hadn't been their fault that they had become part hollow and instead of trying to help them, Seireitei had condemned seven of their best shinigami to death.

She had understood that for them, they were replaceable, dispensable, unnecessary. There was no doubt in her mind that if any of Soul Society's clowns got their hands on that girl, she would definitely end in an interrogation room. And once they felt like they had gotten everything they needed from her, she would become dispensable as well. It was either death or Kurotsuchi's hands. Hiyori had never liked the successor of Urahara Kisuke in her previous squad.

"What about the Espada that brought her?" Kensei grabbed the handle of his zanpakutou that was lying on the floor by his side. "Should we kill him?"

"No." Ichigo replied firmly. "I should go back and tell him to return to Hueco Mundo." Taking a glance at Tatsuki, he disentangled his hands from hers and prepared to leave. "I'll go talk to him and then come back." He informed as he opened the door of the warehouse.

"You should go back home, Ichigo. It would raise suspicion if you got back here just after you said you were going to stop missing classes." Hirako pointed out, remembering what Ichigo had said to the captain in order to keep him from finding out about Tatsuki's and Grimmjow's presence.

The younger vizard clenched his fists. The blond was right. It would be suspicious if he didn't show up that morning in classes. But how could he bring himself to leave his friend alone there? She didn't know any of the vizard. What if she woke up to see a bunch of strangers looking down on her? A bunch of armed strangers? _Tatsuki would freak out and start landing punches on everyone. But I don't think she'll be able to even stand up so soon, let alone punching the vizard._

"Don't worry, Ichi-chin. We'll take good care of Tatsu-chin." The childish hyper active vizard waved goodbye from over Hachigen's shoulder.

"She's right, baldy. That girl is one of us now." These words surprised Ichigo; but not as much as they surprised the rest of the vizard. Shinji almost fainted when he looked back to check if it had really been Hiyori who had said it. The girl was standing in front of Ichigo giving him a reassuring smile. An actual smile! Roujuurou, Love and Lisa exchanged some open eyed glances while Kensei sighed with a smile on his face. It seemed that Hiyori had finally made a friend outside of the vizard.

"Alright! Thanks guys. Take good care of her." And the substitute shinigami flash-stepped outside the barrier, heading directly to meet Grimmjow.

"That was…strange." Shinji commented. But he should have just shut up. Annoyed, Hiyori raised her foot and her flip-flop flew up into her hand before she slammed it in the ex-captain's face with sufficient strength to break his nose. Again.

"Shut the fuck up!" she shouted at him before walking away and sitting in front of Hachi, observing as the former Kidou Corps' lieutenant healed the girl's chest wound.

Shinji was holding his nose, his clean shirt already filled with blood. Meanwhile, the vizard had returned to their previous spots, all except for Hiyori and Lisa, the latter remained at Tatsuki's feet, picking up her manga and proceeding with her reading while occasionally mirroring the black haired girl.

"This is some weird shit that's happening." Kensei commented as he lied back down on the steel bar where he had been prior to Ichigo's arrival.

"Indeed." Roujuurou tuned his guitar. "Why would Aizen take this girl, transform her into an arrancar and then allow her to be almost killed and brought back to the Human World?"

"If Aizen took her is because he had some sort of plan for her." Shinji replied, his voice sounding nasalized due to the cotton stuffed up his nose. "What doesn't make sense is that she is here. Assuming the attack on her and her journey back had been something outside his plans, he could easily have stopped. She has sand all over her. Obviously she fought in Hueco Mundo. No way Aizen wouldn't know about it."

"Then we should assume that he planned that someone would bring her back here." Kensei stated.

"But what would he gain from having her here? In this state, she can't be of any help to either side and while he had her, he would always have a psychological advantage. It's obvious that Ichigo would do just about anything to protect this girl." The blond continued. None of the vizard had an answer to his question.

Ichigo reached Grimmjow's hiding spot moments after he left the vizard's hideout. He checked for any presence around before joining the Espada. The tension between them was almost touchable.

"Where is she?" the blue haired asked the moment the shinigami stopped in front of him.

"She's in a safe place."

Grimmjow pushed Ichigo against the wall, a hand on his robes. Ichigo didn't move. "Don't fuck around with me, shinigami. You better not hand her over to those filthy Soul Society bastards." The Espada threatened. "I'll kill you if something happens to her."

The vizard pushed the arrancar away from him and straightened his robes. "She's my friend. I would never do that." He assured him. _This is surreal. Is this really Grimmjow or has he been replaced by some sort of clone?_ But if it was a clone, it was a damn good one. Not only had he completely imitated Grimmjow's large scar over his chest, his spunky attitude but also his untamed reiatsu.

"Is she going to be alright?" the panther inquired walking away and leaning against the opposite wall in the alley; just being close to the shinigami made his blood boil in anticipation for their next fight. But that wasn't the right moment for that.

"Yeah. My friends will take good care of her." Ichigo replied. _I know Tatsuki has a certain way to deal with people than can turn them around but this is too much._ He thought. The concern the Espada was showing was not faked in the sliest. It was clear and obvious he cared about Tatsuki. But maybe he shouldn't be so surprised. Tatsuki liked to fight. Grimmjow liked to fight. He had to admit that would be a good reason for them to get close. And Grimmjow had always seemed different from the other arrancar. "You should leave. I can't do anything if someone finds you, even if you are here to help Tatsuki." The vizard said.

Grimmjow snickered. "I don't need you to worry about me, shinigami. I can take care of myself." He replied stiffly. "I'll go back if I feel like it. I doubt that Aizen will blame me for killing off that trash, anyway." He added to himself as he thought of the consequences he would face once he got back. Nevertheless, Ichigo heard him.

"Killing who?"

"Nnoitra."

Aizen ran a hand through his slick hair. Las Noches was in an uproar. He smiled. Things were going according to his plans. In fact, everything was going better than if he had actually directed the happenings. After all, the only thing he had directly been responsible for had been sending Arisawa to Karakura to attack her own friends. He knew she would have never said no; by going she could make sure none of her friends was seriously injured by the Espada.

It was then that something unexpected had happened. He had, indeed, planned for her identity to be revealed to the shinigami and the Espada, but he had planned it to happen by his own hand. However, things had turned out for the best.

A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. Briefly after it, the two female arrancar at his service opened the large door and kneeled at the entrance. Even though he had his back turned to them, he was sure they had done it. They feared him too much not to.

"Aizen-sama, we were sent to inform you that Nnoitra-sama has been brought back by his fracción, Tesla-san." Menoly informed in a neutral voice.

"Alright. Keep me informed. You can leave." He ordered them. Both girls closed the doors behind them as they left.

"This is a dangerous plan, Aizen-san."

"Has Gin returned?" the brown haired shinigami inquired as if the previous statement hadn't been said.

Tousen moved closer in the darkness of the room. "Not yet." He replied before taking his place in a chair placed in front of a small round table where two cups of tea laid. "He seems to have gained…" he paused, unsure of the right words to use. "…a personal interest in the girl."

"So I've noticed." Aizen moved away from his contemplation of Hueco Mundo's desert through the large window and took his place in the free chair.

"Do you think he'll be a problem?" Tousen risked as he took a sip from the tea cup. He could feel Aizen's eyes on him.

The brown haired smiled as he picked up his tea cup and tried to cool it down a bit by blowing it softly. "Don't worry, Kaname. He will not become a problem." He assured his blind associate as he took a sip of his tea.

* * *

Heheh...so, this is another chapter. I'll be replying to your reviews shortly. Thank you to all readers and reviewers. I hope you've enjoyed this little twist in the story. Well, I'm in a bit of a dilema now, but I'll figure things out eventually.

Until next time...

PS: I hate running...


	13. Strange Awakening

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or any of its characters. Kubo Tite does.

Second Edition (Nov2011)

* * *

Himitsu

By

Marie Darkholme

**Chapter Thirteen:** Strange Awakening

She remembered vaguely of someone with long black hair smirking down on her. Someone with limbs to spare, holding her down.

She remembered feeling something warm, as if a blanket had involved her.

And then, the memories invaded her mind and soon she could no longer distinguish between now and then. Everything was now and yet, everything seemed to have happened so long ago. It felt, inclusive, as if the memories filling her were not her own but those of someone else.

She dropped into that endless black sea. And there was no more pain; no more sorrow; no hate; no love; there was simply nothing. It was as if her body had expanded continuously and she had somehow become that dark water. Yet, at the same time, she couldn't feel herself. It was as if she had disintegrated.

Suddenly, a slight discomfort started at the tip of her fingers, and they were hers again. The discomfort became a slight pain that crossed her slowly as if awaking her from her slumber and very slowly, Tatsuki started to feel whole again. Her body was heavy and material. She could feel something over her, something under her...fabrics.

A small breeze whispered in her ear and she trembled with the sounds around her. There were steps and cars and people talking. The curtains at her right waved with the breeze. Her breathing…in and out…softly…

And something warm…something…someone, holding her hand.

Had she been capable, Tatsuki would have leaped off the bed she was confined in and run. But as her eyes slowly opened and tried to adjust to the brightness around her, her muscles were also trying to adapt. She realized she felt very heavy as if she weighted a ton. She tested her capacities by moving the fingers of her right hand, which caused her to squeeze the hand in hers without fully realising it.

"Tatsuki?" the unsure voice that called out her name sounded soft and familiar. The girl struggled with her blurry vision and took a glance towards the origin of the voice. The world span. In her mind, she tried to recall what had happened."

"She needs a bit of time to get adjusted." Another voice, this one deeper, older, said. Another hand covered hers and rubbed it tenderly.

_Where am I?_ The question was said clearly in her mind, but she failed to actually put it into words. Another pair of hands grabbed her wrist and she realized it was checking her heartbeat. She moved her head to her left trying to get a glimpse of the other person. So far, the only thing she could tell was that both were men.

Tatsuki blinked her eyes several times in slow motion, trying to disperse the dotted vision and the outlines of the men became clearer. Then, one of them grabbed her chin, the one who had checked her pulse, and pointed something bright to her eyes.

"Maybe we should go get her parents and I…" the younger man started but he was interrupted by the older one.

"Not yet."

The girl shifted her attention again. With the bright lights gone, she was now able to see the face of the person who had been holding her hand. A boy in his teens with bright orange hair and furrowed brows.

"I…chi-go…" she muttered.

In a sudden rush the memories she was so desperately trying to gather flooded her. The sudden jolt of information left her slightly confused and disoriented. Wasn't she supposed to be in Hueco Mundo? Better yet, wasn't she supposed to be dead?

Trying to sit, a hand pressed her shoulder and effectively pushed her back down. She winced and only at that moment did she realise she was injured. She reasoned with herself that having survived, it was only normal that she had been injured.

"Don't try to sit just yet." The voice ordered. The sound of a chair being dragged across the floor was heard and Tatsuki had the clear notion that the man, who she started to realise to be Isshin, sat at her left side.

Isshin adjusted his stethoscope around his neck and allowed himself to relax on the chair. Carefully, he watched his son. The boy had been sitting in that chair for the entire time he wasn't at school since the day they had brought her there. There were dark circles around his eyes; his hair was ruffled and slightly dirt; his lips were dry and his uniform had seen better days. In a word, Ichigo was a wreck.

But the dark haired shinigami understood the reasons behind his son's insomnias. Havoc had basically rained down on the orange haired vizard the last days. So many things had happened; so many revelations had been made. Isshin sighed. He felt like taking out a cigar and lighting it up. But he refrained from doing so. He only smoked in that day now. His attention shifted back to the girl lying down.

She looked exactly the same as in that last day he had been visiting her at the hospital with Kisuke and Yoruichi; that was until you took a careful look at the still healing wounds covering her body. Her real body.

Tatsuki looked around her, trying to take in her surroundings and discover where exactly she was. Her vision was clear now and besides Ichigo sitting silently and avoiding eye contact with her, there was also Isshin sitting in a chair with a heavy look on his face. She noticed the white garment and the stethoscope around his neck. The white room, the bed, the machines, the window with the white curtains, the smells…everything pointed to one thing. She was in the Kurosaki's Clinic.

Resting her elbow on the bed, she tried to sit again. And again she was forced down on the bed, this time by Ichigo who pressed her shoulder down while sitting next to her in the bed, his hand still holding hers.

"Tatsuki, if you keep trying to sit, I'll have to restrain you." Isshin stood and adjusted the top of the bed so the girl could see both of them without sitting completely. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

The girl gulped and tried to get something to wet her dry throat. She wasn't surprised when Ichigo poured some water into a glass and offered it to her. When she tried to reach it with her hand, he removed it from her reach and then approached it of her lips. Silently, he helped her take small sips of water. Unaccustomed to it, Tatsuki managed to spill some of the water which Ichigo wiped from her neck with a napkin. Both teens blushed slightly when Ichigo's fingers brushed against her chin.

"I've been better." She replied in a husky voice she didn't recognize as her own.

"You've also looked better." Isshin laughed at his own joke but the two teens casted him serious faces. He cleared his throat as he moved to the left side of the bed. "Well, I'll come to check on you later. Yuzu and Karin will probably want to come in as well. They've been worried sick about you, Tatsuki-chan." He casted a last glance at them before leaving the room, closing the door behind him. "Behave, kids." He shouted at them with a smirk that went unseen but not unimagined.

Tatsuki rolled her eyes. The old man didn't change, she thought slightly amused. But the seriousness of the situation quickly brought her back from her childhood memories. She shifted her head to the right and tried to adjust her position.

"You shouldn't move. Your wounds might open again. And don't forget you're not in your soul form anymore." The vizard said before standing up and walking towards the window, his back turned on the girl he had been watching for the past three days nonstop. He realised at that moment that his resolve had been dissolved the moment she had opened her eyes. Everything he had been planning to tell her got caught in his throat and he wasn't sure if he would manage to face her. Not after everything that had happened.

"Yeah…I was wondering about that…" Tatsuki said, a sting of pain crossing her chest at his seemingly distant voice. She was happy. But at the same time, she couldn't have been sadder. The answers to her questions lied steps away from her and she couldn't bring herself to talk to him. Had the gap between them became that big?

_**Let's skip this joint and go back…**_the hollow inside her argued. Not without its reason in Tatsuki's own ideas. Being in Karakura would only further endanger her friends and would do her no good. She couldn't just go back pretending that everything was back to normal when it wasn't. She couldn't go back and pretend that nothing of those awful things had happened to her when they had. She couldn't go back to pretending she was normal. Or as normal as she had been before the spiritual realm had invaded her peaceful existence.

_**We don't belong here.**_ The hollow stated. _And what do you plan on doing? It's not like we can just stand up and walk away._ Tatsuki argued. She could feel the differences in her body. It had been a while, six months to be more accurate, since the last time she had been inside her body. Compared to her spiritual form, her body was heavy and constricting. Or perhaps it just felt like that because she had been outside of it for so long.

She watched Ichigo's back for what seemed like an eternity. His stiff figure framed against the setting sun send shivers down her spine. He looked so…beautiful. The way the sun reflected in his orange locks contrasting with his grey uniform…she shook her head. _What the fuck am I thinking? Is Ichigo there, my best friend…__**Your best traitor, you mean to say…**_ Tatsuki ignored the hollow. _**We should go back to Hueco Mundo.**_ It said. On that, the girl had to agree. But not just yet. She couldn't. She wasn't strong enough. Not yet.

"Ichigo…" she moved uncomfortably. The silence was hurting her. Was he planning on just standing there and not say anything? He didn't move. "How did I get here?" the girl asked.

"Grimmjow brought you." His voice was meant to sound neutral but even he could detect the bitterness with which he informed her. He wanted to turn around, walk up to her and just hold her tightly in his arms. Tatsuki was standing merely steps away from him, alive and for the most well. He was truly happy but he couldn't bring himself to show it. He feared that if he walked up to her and pulled her against him she would just push away. Unconsciously, he ran his fingers through his head and gave a long sigh.

"For how long?"

"Three days."

She had been silent for a few minutes, perhaps taking in the information he had advanced her. He dared a glance behind him. Tatsuki was deeply concentrated, biting down her bottom lip. Once again, the thing that most caught his attention was her wounds, her scars. There was particularly one in her cheek. Instead of making her look more boyish and rough, it only added to her strong features. She was so strong, and yet, she would always be so fragile at his eyes.

"Does Orihime know?" he was shaken away from his thoughts by her question. A genuine smile crept to his cheeks. It would be expected _of Tatsuki to be in her current state and still be worrying about Inoue._ He thought quietly, keeping his smile to himself.

"No. We haven't told her yet." He replied staring through the window again, his hands inside his pockets. There was another small pause before Tatsuki spoke again.

"Who knows?"

It was a legitimate question. _**No one she needs to worry about…for now.**_ Ichigo's hollow smirked evilly.

"Does Soul Society know? Are they going to question me? Are they taking me?" her voice came out lower and more distressed than she had intended it to. It wasn't that she wasn't scared. At that moment she was as defenceless as a newborn arrancar. If Soul Society was to take her in, it would have been the best opportunity. She was surprised when Ichigo involved her in a strong embrace, pulling her close to him.

"I will never let anyone take you away anymore. I promise." His embrace tightened and Tatsuki winced in pain which caused Ichigo to let go of her. When she managed to look at his face, she was surprised to see the bags under his eyes, but she was much more surprised to see the warmness and seriousness in them. He grabbed her shoulders. "You don't need to be afraid, Tatsuki. I promise you I won't fail again. You won't ever be taken again, not by Aizen, Ulquiorra, Soul Society or anyone else. From now on, I'll protect you. I'm sorry I didn't do anything before but...I won't let anything else happen to you. Trust me, won't you?"

Tatsuki's mouth opened as if she was about to say something but she then closed it again and looked away. It was just like Ichigo to say something like that and she shouldn't be trying to read between the lines of what he had said. Still, no matter how good she was controlling her thoughts, she wasn't able to keep the blood from rushing to her cheeks covering them in a fade shade of red.

_**Trust him? Is he out of his mind? As if…**_ _What is your problem? _Tatsuki shouted when the hollow started protesting. _**My problem is your infatuation with that shinigami.**_ The hollow replied annoyed. _**Did Nnoitra kicked your head just a little too hard? We have to get out of here. **__You're right about that._ The girl agreed. It was way too dangerous to be around her friends. She still didn't have nearly as much control as she should over her hollow nor her powers. She just couldn't risk staying around and hurt them. _**It's dangerous for us too, stupid.**__Yeah, you're right about that too. Even if Ichigo means every word he said, he can't control Soul Society. If they find out I'm here, I'll possibly become the next lab rat in Kurotsuchi's hands._

Reaching into Ichigo's pocket, Tatsuki took his shinigami badge and hit it against her own chest before the vizard could react. But it wasn't just her body that was weak. As she should have expected, her soul was also weak and she barely managed to stand up before Ichigo caught her.

"Tats! What are you trying to do?" the orange haired teen asked alarmed as he grabbed her arm and pulled her back. He held her shoulders and lowered his head so he could look into her eyes. "You are in no shape to be standing, let alone leave through the window!"

The girl avoided his gaze, choosing instead to stare at her feet. Ichigo raised her chin and a tear trickled down her cheek falling over his hand. He eyed her confused before cleaning another tear with his thumb, his fingers lingering in her face just a bit longer than necessary.

As he put her back into her body, she looked up and found herself staring into his eyes. When had Kurosaki Ichigo gained such power over her? She felt completely overwhelmed by his mere gaze. She felt capable of doing anything and at the same time, she felt at his mercy. And she found herself wanting to feel weak so she could be protected by him. It was a strange feeling that hurt her deep inside.

Managing to break eye contact she took a deep breath. "I have to go back to Hueco Mundo." His expression didn't change. "I can't stay around here. I would be breaking my promise. I would be putting you all in danger." She explained.

Ichigo laughed and forced her to look back to him again. "Any promise you made to Aizen has no meaning at all. As for the danger, we are always being put in danger, so, you don't need to worry about that. We can take care of the Espada."

Tatsuki smiled sadly. "I wasn't talking about the Espada." She said. To her amazement he smiled wider. His fingers traced the scar on her face, reaching back to her hair in a more than friendly manner and tucking it behind her ear.

"You're not the only one with a hollow to control." He replied. He lowered his head, standing inches away from her face and unable to keep himself any longer, he closed his eyes and sealed her lips with his in a short kiss. He parted for brief seconds, to make sure Tatsuki hadn't punched him, before he closed the distance between them. Trapping her hands against his chest, he kissed her again, this time truthfully tasting her lips, salty with her tears and sweet like he knew she was deep inside.

Isshin walked away from the room he had left his son and Tatsuki in and fished a lollipop from his pocket. As he walked outside, he unwrapped it throwing the paper into one of the trash bins on his way. The sliding glass door opened and he walked outside into the cold evening. Putting the lollipop into his mouth he leaned against the wall and tightened the grip on the jacket he had dressed over his white coat.

It hadn't been five minutes when a solitary black cat jumped from the roof and landed squarely at Isshin's feet. The older man took the lollipop from his mouth to greet the woman. The cat started cleaning its paws.

"She's awake now." Isshin said.

"And how are things?" Yoruichi licked her right paw and started to smooth her fur with it.

"Ichigo's with her. They're probably talking about what happened." The man crouched and sat down on the floor while putting the lollipop in his mouth once more. "How are things on the other side?" he smirked.

Yoruichi stopped cleaning her fur and went to take a sit next to Isshin. How were things on the other side, he asked? That sort of question made her want to laugh. Seireitei was as stubborn as ever. So far, with the help of Tessai's barriers and some of Kisuke's cunning, they had managed to keep Tatsuki's condition in the shadows. But the group knew it was just a matter of time until someone discovered. Hitsugaya might be young but he was definitely not naïve nor stupid. Ichigo's made up story had put him in red alert and since then, he had most efficiently tracked down their activities. They were mostly lucky that Tatsuki hadn't had any outbreaks yet, otherwise, things might have been different.

"Have you had any ideas of what Aizen is planning with this?" the woman asked. The dark haired shinigami shook his head and removed the lollipop stick from his mouth.

"Still no clue." He said putting the stick in his mouth while trying to fold it. "I was hoping that once Ichigo and Tatsuki-chan are done talking, we could ask her some questions. Maybe she can help us make some sense out of this."

"What about Grimmjow?"

"Can't you feel him?" Isshin stood up and looked into the distance, his own reiatsu stretching down the street and touching that of the Sexta Espada which was as much as possible under strict and controlled low levels. "You think he'll be problem?"

"I don't know." The cat jumped on the wall in front of the Kurosaki's clinic before Isshin turned around and entered the house again; the cat disappeared.

Aizen stood from his chair and walked to the balcony that he so much loved for its view over the desert of Hueco Mundo. The night was cloudy but that was about the only thing that ever changed in Hueco Mundo. They got cloudy nights, rainy nights, clear nights. It was kind of boring. He sighed when he sensed the presence of one of his companions.

"Aizen-sama!" Kaname entered through the usual door and stood besides Aizen. The brown haired shinigami didn't move or even acknowledge his presence. But he had sensed the anxiety in the blind shinigami's voice making the motive for his visit apparent before Tousen had said anything.

"Kaname, relax. Gin will come back soon." The brown haired shinigami assured.

"You seem to be sure he is not doing something uncalled for?" Tousen raised an eyebrow as he spoke. As always, Aizen seemed undisturbed by what was happening around him and with complete confidence on his planning ability.

"Gin will not do anything other than what is needed of him." The leader replied running his fingers through his slick hair and moving away from the balcony to sit at his throne-like chair once more. He couldn't help feeling aggravated when he felt one of his minions quickly approaching. "Kaname, let's postpone this conversation. Gin went to check how things were going, but he'll be back. Be sure of it. Right now, it seems like we have other things to worry about."

Without a word, Tousen left the room through the door by which he had entered in the exact moment an Espada stormed inside of Aizen's meeting room. He made a bored expression as he rested his chin over his hand, his elbow in the arms of the chair.

The Espada bowed respectfully with a wince of pain he could not contain. It was truly admirable that he was even standing. His recover had certainly been one of the fastest Aizen had seen. But it was to be expected from the specialist in high speed regeneration, after all.

"Nnoitra-sama!" An worried voice echoed through the corridors all the way to the throne room and Tesla barged in seconds later almost out of breath. The moment he approached his leader to try and help him up, he was thrown back by Nnoitra.

"Tesla, leave now." He growled as he stood up from his kneeled position. The fracción hesitated for a bit but before the frown in the black haired Espada, Tesla finally backed away closing the tall doors as he left.

During the entire accident, Aizen had been merely observing, slightly amused by the blind devotion Tesla had over Nnoitra. As for the Espada, he had seen better days. His jacket had been disposed of and his chest and abdomen were bandaged. Both his arms had been broken savagely and although he had managed to regenerate the bone, it still showed in his movements. His long black hair fell over the left side of his face to hide a particular hideous scar that had ripped through his eyepatch. Still, the right side showed another slash, this one probably cause by Grimmjow's claws. The only thing Nnoitra conserved from his Espada uniform was his ripped pants that showed another slash under his right knee.

"Aizen-sama!" the Espada approached limping. "It had reached my ears that Grimmjow and the shinigami were able to evade to the Living World. I want to go after them."

Aizen laughed. "In your condition?" he asked amused pointing out Nnoitra's wounds. "Kurosaki would have extreme pleasure beating you up before he killed you. In fact, even that giant human you defeated would be enough to take care of you."

Nnoitra's brow twitched in annoyance. To simply state that he could be beaten by that weakling…who did Aizen think he was?

"I am the Quinto Espada. Even injured I'm far better than Kurosaki or any of his mates. Besides, I have unfinished businesses with Grimmjow and Arisawa."

Aizen stood up and in a flash he was standing in front of Nnoitra. His presence so close to him was enough to make his knees tremble and the shinigami wasn't even trying to. If he had been, Nnoitra would probably not be able to stand at all.

"You acted against my orders when I specifically told you that Arisawa was not to be touched and not only did you almost killed her, you almost got yourself killed."

"If Grimmjow hadn't appeared I w…"

Aizen laughed. This time a little louder. "I wasn't talking about Grimmjow. He actually saved your life being so worried about his newly found friend that he left you alive."

"What?" _Are you insane? _Nnoitra thought, but was conscious enough not to call Aizen crazy. _Grimmjow saved me? Yeah, right! If I hadn't been injured to begin with, I would've killed him. And if he hadn't appeared…_

"You're too naïve, Nnoitra." Aizen stated pointing a finger to the Espada's forehead and forcing him down. Then he walked behind him, his arms behind his back. "You were desperately trying to fight Arisawa at her best, so you wanted her to release her resurrection. What you didn't realise was that if she had, there would be nothing left for you to regenerate with."

Nnoitra's mouth opened to protest. There was no way that bitch was that powerful. He snickered. "That shinigami ain't that tough."

"Oh, but she is." Aizen stated before disappearing from Nnoitra's side again. "You see, she was until now my best experiment ever. When I asked Ulquiorra to bring her I wasn't fully aware of her true potential. She surpassed everything I had imagine her capable of." He sat on his throne again. "It was just your luck that she is so afraid she'll loose herself that she doesn't use her entire strength." He smiled evilly. "To cut it short, permission denied. Go back to the infirmary and heal properly. The time for the final battle is approaching and I plan to have you in it."

The night had fallen in Karakura. It was cold and breezy. Not that Grimmjow cared about that. From his hiding spot, he managed to get a look at Arisawa's room in the Kurosaki's clinic but he could not go in it or even get close enough. Any reiatsu coming from the inside was also blocked by the barrier the shinigami had put around the place. He didn't like the fact that he couldn't go see her or even get close to her, but he knew the barrier would keep her safe for the time being. As long as she was inside it, no one should be able to detect her spiritual energy.

He sat on the edge of the roof looking down. At that time of night, the streets were empty and the clinic was quiet and peaceful. He could hear the laughs coming from Arisawa's room. The Kurosaki sisters had went in an hour before and since then the mood had become significantly more positive. Before it had only been Ichigo and the arrancar, which annoyed Grimmjow more than he liked to think it did. It still felt weird to share a friend with an enemy.

He was so caught up in his thoughts he failed in feeling someone approaching from behind. Alarmed by the other's presence, he jumped back and knocked down the intruder, or at least he would have if the man hadn't slid to the side just in time to avoid Grimmjow's attack.

"Would ya mind keeping it down, Grimmjow!" the man tried to keep the Espada for making any more noise and leaking out reiatsu which would alert to their presence.

When the panther turned around, he was surprised to see Ichimaru Gin standing with his hands tucked inside his large sleeves at the edge of the roof, a slight grin on his face.

* * *

Hello everyone. I'm so so so so sorry for the delay. And for the short chapter. I was planning on writing something longer but I just didn't have the time because I had to rewrite everything yesterday at night. Anyway, hope you've enjoyed the chapter.

If you read my profile you should know that I've started university for the third year and I'm very busy. But I will be giving news every so often in my hi5 profile so feel free to check it and send me PMs complaining about the time is taking me to write the chapters. I don't mind. It's actually encouraging.

I will reply to every reviewer shortly during the week (I hope) but I thank every reader and reviewer right now. You really make my day.

I think that's all for now. I hope it won't take me so long to write the next chapter.

Ja ne!


	14. Normal

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach because if I did, Tatsuki would come back recurrently as a non important character. Kubo Tite is the one you can point your finger at. ^_^

First Edition (Nov2011)

* * *

Himitsu

By

Marie Darkholme

**Chapter Fourteen:** "Normal"

It had been raining down heavily for the past two days. The drops hit against the glass of her window almost like a symphony. Luckily it was weekend so she had been spared from having to move around under the rain. She walked to the window and watched the street below. Small creeks were forming on the sides of the road. A woman walked by clutching her yellow umbrella tightly against her, but even that couldn't keep the water from drenching her top to bottom.

The orange haired woman gave a little screech when the window was burst open and Matsumoto entered, she too completely soaked.

"Orihime-chan, you're up so early in the morning when you don't have school?" the woman said in a goofy voice before heading out to the bathroom. "I definitely need a bath, a warm one." She smiled back at the girl.

Orihime smiled back. "Well, I couldn't sleep any longer so I decided to do some early morning stretches." And as she said it, she reached her hands to her toes to then put her hands on her waist and bend her upper body to her left and then her right. However, as soon as she heard the water from the bath running she stopped and walked to the window again. Her eyes followed a direction of their own. Though she could not see the house from her apartment, she could still pinpoint it.

With a sigh, she returned to the centre of the room and sat down on the floor. It had been four days since she had gone to the hospital to visit her friend. She was surprised when they told her that she had been transferred to a private clinic. When they told her it was the Kurosaki Clinic, she wasn't sure if she had been worried or relieved. She walked there the same instant. The reason why Tatsuki had been moved to the Kurosaki Clinic eluded her. After all, the Kurosaki Clinic was more of a place for first care and not really continuous observation.

Her heart had been racing all the way from the hospital to the Clinic, not from the effort on her body, although she had run the entire way, but because of the anxiety. There was only one reason occurring to her as to why her black haired best friend had been transferred and that was her awakening.

She reached her destination completely drenched from the rain that had started to fall down half way. Her long hair was glued to the sides of her head and fat drops of water falling down from her clothes contributed to her soaked appearance. For a moment she just stood there. Was she prepared to face Tatsuki if she was awake? She shook her head. There was no time to think about that. For months she had sat by her friend's side wishing with all her strength that she would wake up, and if that moment had finally come, she should not be feeling uneasy and scared but hysterically happy.

It was with a smile that she reached the Kurosaki Clinic and she was surprised to see Kurosaki's father standing there, the stick of a lollipop between his lips, as if he had been waiting for her.

xxx

Slowly pulling the sheets of her, Tatsuki swung her feet to the side of the bed. Her face contracted in a mask of pain that she forced herself to erase as she sat. It had been four days since she had woken up in the Kurosaki Clinic. She was steadily getting better, which didn't mean that her body didn't hurt, especially since she was inside her body and not in her soul form. But the pain was good thing. It made her believe that she hadn't dreamt everything that had happened the past six months. The pain made it real.

She put her feet on the ground. It was cold against her bare skin which felt refreshing. Standing up, she walked to the window. It had been raining for two days in a row and it didn't look like it was going to stop anytime soon. She watched her reflection on the window's glass. Surely she had looked better, but for someone who had been one step away from dying, several times in the past two weeks, she thought she looked pretty okay.

Unconsciously her mind travelled to Grimmjow. The barrier that had been raised around the Kurosaki household by Tessai was meant to block her reiatsu, so that no one outside the house would sense her. An unfortunate side effect was that she also couldn't sense anything outside. And that extended to the Sexta Espada. Ichigo had told her he was still in Karakura. The thought made her smile. Grimmjow had come for her, rescued her from Nnoitra and even brought her back to the Living World; he had swallowed up his pride and asked Ichigo for help, putting himself in danger at the same time. That was way beyond anything she would have asked of him.

She looked outside, her eyes searching for a glimpse of blue. He was close by for sure, but of course he wouldn't be dumb enough to be at sight, not with so many shinigami out there who would try to kill him at sight. _**And us as well.**_ _Yes, us as well._

She sighed as she turned around and made her way to the door. Everything was strangely quiet for a morning in the Kurosaki household. After everything that had happened, it was odd to actually wake to the sound of Yuzu in the kitchen and Isshin's and Ichigo's grumbling and fighting. She had almost forgotten how it was like. Unfortunately everyday she was reminded that that peace was only temporary and there was a big war coming their way. The worst thing was that she didn't know when it would begin and she had no clue on how it would end.

A nice thing about the Kurosaki Clinic was that she could wander around. She took the stairs down to the main floor where the treatment room and Isshin's consultation room were. Everything was pristine clean, as expected. The glass sliding doors were closed and as she approached bare footed in her blue pyjamas, she had a sudden urge to just bust them open and get out.

_**Good, that's it. Let's do it and get out. We're fine now, we can go. **_ She could sense the anxiety in the hollow's whispers as she got a hold on the doors handles. _And what?_ _Go back to Hueco Mundo? To Las Noches? _Tatsuki replied clutching the handles tighter. She was surprised by the hollow's response. _**Anywhere...**_

Tatsuki sighed as she watched the rain pouring down on the outside of the glass doors. She didn't know what to do anymore; if she should stay or if she should go. For the past six months she had been a prisoner and a toy in Aizen's hands. And now, she was a prisoner in her own world.

The sound of steps behind her brought her back from her thoughts.

"Thinking about running away?" Ichigo asked as he stood in the middle of the hallway, next to the door that served as the connection between the Kurosaki Clinic and the house.

Tatsuki didn't move nor turned around. After what had happened between them, she was having a hard time facing the orange haired shinigami. The thought of them being alone actually scared her. She pressed her lips tightly together. Who would have thought that a kiss could make her so confused to the point of not knowing how to act around Ichigo anymore? _**Oh, get a grip...Getting so flustered by that shinigami. **_She ignored the hollow. _What if he tells me it was a mistake? _That thought sort of haunted her lately. What if it had been a thing of the moment and not something he really felt?

"Hey, Tatsuki, are you listening to me?" Ichigo started walking in her direction. "What are you doing up so early in the morning? In your pyjamas and bare footed?" he sighed as he reached for her shoulder. But before he could touch it, Tatsuki quickly dodged him and walked to the door he had just entered through. She flashed him a smile.

"I was thinking about it, but then I remembered Yuzu promised me she would make pancakes today, so I guess I'll have to postpone my escape." She smirked before sticking out her tongue and getting through the door.

Ichigo glanced outside. He could see what she was doing. For the past days his black haired friend had been trying, and pretty much succeeded, not to be around him. Every attempt on his part to start a conversation about subjects other than those around the upcoming battle and their friends, had been shut down before it even started and she wouldn't let him come near her.

_**Clearly King, she has some problems with that thing you did.**_ The hollow snickered, knowing it would annoy Ichigo. _If she did, she wouldn't have let me do it in the first place._ The shinigami replied. _**Well, maybe she let you because you took advantage of her while she was weak and defenceless.**_ The hollow continued. _Defenceless is not a word you can associate with Tatsuki. Something else must be up. __**That is just you trying to save your sorry ass, King. **__What the fuck? I've known Tatsuki for the most part of our lives. If she didn't want me to kiss her, she wouldn't have let me. __**You forget King that part of you is also a part of me, so I can see who she is. She's pissed at you.**__ Oh please, why the hell am I even arguing with you?_

"Hey, strawberry, get in here." He heard Tatsuki call. Resuming his thoughts he followed her to the kitchen. She was hidden behind the fridge's door, apparently searching for something.

"I can't find the milk." She said as she looked at him for the first time that morning. Ichigo was also in his pyjama's, a pair of striped green and black pants and a black shirt. He slid his fingers through his hair trying to make him more presentable, but only managing to make it more unruly. Tatsuki quickly got her head in the fridge again, feeling her cheeks get warm.

"Hey, Tats..." the shinigami started as he put a hand on the fridge's top frame. " I think we should..."

"Good morning everyone." A sleepy Rukia entered the kitchen rubbing her eyes. Yawning, she took a chair and sat down, one of her Chappy slippers falling down as she did. "The last bottle ended yesterday, but check the storage cabinet. There should be a pack of milk there."

"Oh, right, the storage cabinet." Closing the fridge Tatsuki moved towards said cabinet where she found a pack of six bottles of milk. "Here they are. Anyone else wants some hot chocolate milk?" she asked as she poured down the milk into a pot.

"That would be nice, thank you." Rukia mumbled in between another yawn.

"Sure." Ichigo had taken his hand of the fridge's door just in time to not get his fingers smacked against the fridge. He went to the shelf where the chocolate powder was and took it out, heading then to retrieve three mugs that he placed over the table and giving Rukia a furious glance on his way.

"What?" the black haired shinigami replied as she tried to reach her slipper under the table.

"Nice timing, midget." The vizard whispered annoyed as he too sat down, his eyes turning to Tatsuki's back as she watched the oven where she had just placed the milk pot. She was wearing some sport shorts and a t-shirt as pyjamas. He couldn't help looking at her nice figure. Getting slammed in the head he was forced to redirect his view to Rukia. "What the hell?"

"Don't call me a midget, you idiot." She yelled at him from the other side of the table where she had just leaned in order to be able to hit him in the head.

"Then what else should I call you, damn brat? Hitting people in the head..." Ichigo complained as he rubbed the sore spot.

"You stu..."

"Ah, please, can you not fight so early in the morning?" an exasperated sigh made everyone turn their heads.

Karin came in just in time to prevent a dangerous climbing in Ichigo's and Rukia's discussion. This could go on forever if no one dared to put a stop to their stupid arguments. She pushed a thread of hair behind her ear as she entered the kitchen.

"Good morning, Karin-chan." Tatsuki said, smiling before turning back to stare at a milk pot on the stove.

"Did we wake you up, Karin-chan? Sorry about that." Rukia sheepishly sat back down giving the man in front of her deadly glares.

"Is Yuzu still asleep?" Ichigo asked completely ignoring the shinigami's stares and turning his attention to his younger sister as she asked Tatsuki to pour some more milk for her and her twin as well.

"She's getting dressed." The girl replied, reaching for two more cups from the cabinet and sitting down next to Rukia.

It almost looked like a normal day in a normal house of a normal family. Kids bickering, someone getting something done for breakfast as the younger ones come down to join them. Yup, that was more or less how Karin imagined a normal family breakfast would be. She turned her attention back to Tatsuki. Just some days ago she had been nearly killed after spending the last six months in another dimension and now she was standing in the kitchen heating up milk as if nothing had happened.

But Karin knew better. As her sister came down and started to make pancakes like she had promised the day before, the group sat for the most part silently at the table, sipping on their respective hot chocolate milk cups. The black haired Kurosaki sister took her time studying the person she thought of as a kind of role model. As always, she liked to act tough and pretend everything was okay, but Karin could see through it. She could also feel the tension between the black haired girl and her brother. She smirked, remembering what had happened four days ago.

_She knocked, but the warning sound was quickly followed by the opening of the door. As she entered, Karin couldn't help noticing how rigid Ichigo's upright posture was. It didn't go unnoticed as well, the red coloration on the cheeks of both teenagers as she approached. _

_Yuzu_ _had already taken one of the sides of the bed. Unable to keep some tears from escaping her eyes, the blond Kurosaki twin quickly wiped them away. "How are you feeling, Tatsuki-chan?" she asked as she took the older girl's hand into hers and squeezed softly._

"_Well," Tatsuki smiled. "I've been better. But I've been much worse as well." She squeezed Yuzu's hand back and turned to ruffle Karin's hair as the dark haired twin approached the other side of the bed. "Karin-chan, still the best?" she asked weakly raising her hand._

"_You can bet on that, Tatsuki-chan." The girl laughed lightly giving her friend a high five. Then a mischievous smirk crossed her lips. "Did we interrupt something?"_

"_Of course not!" both teenagers replied at the same time. They must have realized that saying the same thing at the same time only made them look guiltier because they quickly looked away as Yuzu simply stared at Karin, trying to figure what that was all about._

"Arisawa-san, are you suppose to be up already?" Rukia's voice interrupted Karin's reminiscence. She heard Tatsuki chuckle.

"Hey, Rukia, I've already told you to hold out the honorific. You can call me Tatsuki." She smiled as she took another sip on her chocolate milk. "And I'm actually feeling fine, so I thought to save Yuzu the trouble of getting me breakfast."

"Oh, Tatsuki-chan, that was unnecessary." Yuzu quickly replied. She flipped the pancake in the frying pan with mastery before setting a plate filled with deliciously looking pancakes in front of the starving group. "You're not troubling at all. Ichi-ni could always go there."

_**Now that would really be unnecessary.**_ _**The less interaction with that thing the better**__. _"Just shut up!" Tatsuki muttered.

Ichigo eyed her cautiously from his sit right beside her. No one else had heard what she had just said, and he was sure she hadn't meant to say it out loud. _She wasn't talking back at Yuzu either. Which means that she...__**was probably talking to herself.**__**Or who else is inside there.**_ The hollow snickered. The vizard ignored the comment.

The conversation around them had somehow suddenly turned to the subject of how cute Rukia's slippers were and how she and Yuzu loved cute things and apparently Rukia liked Yuzu's vast collection of stuffed toys a lot. He took the moment to nudge Tatsuki. "Are you okay?"

The confused look in her eyes told him she hadn't realized what had happened. As he was about to explain, a sudden shift in her expression made him stop.

"Oh, did I ...?" she whispered to him.

"Yeah, you did."

Tatsuki quickly looked around her like a child caught swearing and she was satisfied to see that no one else had heard her. She turned back to Ichigo who was still staring at her. "...I'm...fine." she smiled. "Just, you know...talking to myself." Her eyes swiftly turned back to her beverage and her hands were moving to grasp the hot cup when she felt Ichigo's hand on her wrist. She glanced from her wrist to Ichigo's face, her mouth slightly open as if to complain, but she didn't say a word as her cheeks became a soft shade of pink.

"Hey! Don't do that." The orange haired shinigami gave her a deeply concerned look. "I'm here. You can talk to me."

He suddenly realized he was holding her wrist. Quickly releasing it, he looked at his pancakes, his face turning a bit red as well. _Ah, damn...grabbing her wrist before _that _would have been no big deal. __**Well, Ichigo, right now I'm sure you wanted to grab more than just her wrist.**_ The vizard became even more flustered as a sudden image crossed his mind.

"Kon looks definitely cuter with a little pink bow on his head." Yuzu said in response to something Ichigo hadn't heard. Apparently she and Rukia were still talking about girly stuff. That basically left Karin, who was just finishing breakfast, and Tatsuki and him out of the conversation. He side glanced at his best friend only to catch her staring back at him before he quickly looked away.

"Hey Tats, what about Inoue?"

A piece of pancake fell off Tatsuki's fork halfway to her mouth. Silently, she picked it up again and stuffed it into her mouth. _Orihime... She was here four days ago but Isshin told her I wasn't able to talk to her just yet and sent her back home. Sooner or later, she'll have to know. And it sure it's better if it's me telling her._

Finishing up the rest of her pancake, Tatsuki picked up her plate and cup and walked to the sink, shortly followed by Ichigo.

"Let me." He said as he took the stuff from her hands and started washing it. The black haired hybrid just leaned against the counter.

"I should probably talk to her before anything else happens."

"Yeah, you should." Ichigo quickly agreed. "Huh, wait, what do you mean, before anything else happens?"

Tatsuki chuckled. "I mean that we can't expect this sort of normal days to go on for much longer. I will have to get out of here, find Grimmjow, figure what to do next...and we never know when Aizen might just send the Espada to Karakura. I'm sort of surprised he hasn't done it yet. So, I should take this opportunity to explain things to Hime."

Ichigo wiped his hands to a cloth. "Do you want me to call her?"

"Nah, my parents brought me my cell when they were here. Thankfully they didn't ask any questions. I don't know what the hell I should have said if they did."

xxx

Four days! It had been four days wondering around and eating stolen junk from incautious passersby. What the fuck was he doing there? Really...

The Espada took refuge under the edge of small roof on top of a building while eating something bread-like in shape with some weird cream inside that actually tasted nice. He tried to calm himself down. He wasn't interested in having a shinigami chasing him at the moment and having his reiatsu bottled up involved a lot of calm on his end. He ran a wet hand through his soaked blue hair and cursed. Hueco Mundo was definitely much drier. In fact, it didn't actually rain there, ever.

Having finished his stolen dinner, he squashed the papers and plastics into a tiny ball and threw it down the building. In an angry tic his hand ran through his hair once again. Sitting down on the partially damp floor, he took a deep breath which reminded him of what Arisawa used to do when her temper was getting in the way of her fight.

One thought led to another and soon he was thinking about Gin's visit. That had certainly been strange. Out of all the three shinigami invading Hueco Mundo, Ichimaru Gin was the most difficult to get. Tousen had never made his plans a secret and although Aizen was far from being an open book, Grimmjow could feel his motivations. But Ichimaru...his first guess had been that such a sadistic bastard wouldn't get much fun being with the good guys. However the more he thought about it, the more it looked like there was actually something else that made the guy tick. And then...

"_Grimmjow-san, how have ya been doing?" he has asked with his usual smile playing in his lips. The panther just ignored the obvious sarcastic comment beneath the stupid question. "I'm so glad ya saved Tatsuki-chan." Gin continued. "But, I am actually surprised. Ya asked Kurosaki Ichigo for help."_

_The Espada looked away from Tatsuki's window and snarled. "What the fuck do you want?"_

_Gin waved his hands defensively in front of him, his grin slightly widened. "I'm just interested in the well being of Tatsuki-chan...like ya." _

_Grimmjow_ _raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean with that?"_

"_I mean that ya ought to, maybe, stick around. Ya'll never know what might happen here if ya'll go back to Hueco Mundo." The shinigami replied turning around, clearly preparing to leave. "If ya care for her, ya'll want to stay around."_

And before Grimmjow could demand what the hell he meant by that, the shinigami shunpoed away disappearing into the night. _It's not like I meant to leave anyway._ He thought to himself. But somehow he distrusted Ichimaru already knew that. He had felt his reiatsu around his wing when Tatsuki was fighting Nnoitra, probing. He highly doubted it had been a coincidence that the shinigami had been around there at that time. _No, there's something else going on. Something big._ And his instinct told him exactly the same thing. Something big was going to happen soon and for some reason that escaped his understanding, Gin wanted the black haired hybrid protected through it.

xxx

Ice was more his thing than rain. So, when it started pouring down non-stop some days ago, his pride took quite a hit when he had to accept Inoue Orihime's shelter offer. He didn't like to feel as if he depended on someone, but the truth is that the orange haired girl had been quite helpful.

His patrol shift was ending. With so many shinigami in Karakura and so little hollows coming in, the young taichou had a lot of free time on his hands. And a lot of free time meant he had a lot of time to think. Lately his thoughts always seemed to end up on an annoying and disrespectful substitute shinigami and his group of friends, which actually included some of the shinigami under his watch while at the Human World.

Something was happening. And once again, it all surrounded Kurosaki and his friends. Apparently Kuchiki and Abarai were in the loop, as well as Shihouhin Yoruichi and Urahara Kisuke. But somehow it seemed that Inoue Orihime didn't know whatever was going on. He could tell by the way she acted around her friends. She knew there was something being held secret from her.

His suspicions started the moment they arrived. He had caught on a bit of the conversation between Abarai-fukutaichou and Kurosaki. Just something that Inoue wasn't supposed to know. That had left him slightly on guard. But then, just days later, the incident that really put him on high alert had happened. That strange encounter with Kurosaki just after a hollow signal that was all too quick to disappear.

He stopped on the roof of a house very close to the Kurosaki's home. He could feel something around it, like a barrier of some sort. It hadn't been there until a few days ago. His first thought had been that the barrier was supposed to protect Kurosaki's younger sisters. But for that purpose the shield would have been there long before.

Inside the barrier he could sense four spirits. One of them seemed to engulf everyone else's in his uncontrolled stream of reiatsu. Kurosaki really needed to learn how to keep a low profile. Then, there was Kuchiki Rukia and the two Kurosaki sisters. He felt embarrassed as he watched eat in the kitchen. Spying was not a nice thing to do and it was a job for the 2th Squad.

Under the heavy rain, he turned his head catching only a glimpse of what looked like a head with short black hair. He stopped, quickly turning around. He furrowed his eyebrows as he counted not four, but five people in the Kurosaki household. And one of them, a girl he faintly remembered seeing in Kurosaki's classroom, should not exist.

* * *

Ohayou minna! I came back from the dead to write another chapter. And I hope to continue, but I won't promise anything. I might die again, we never know.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this boring chapter that leaves room for something more exciting to happen in the next one. ^_^

Thanks to all reviewers and readers. I really am sorry for being such a lazy bum.


	15. Not Possible

Disclaimer: once again, I do not own Bleach or any of its characters.

* * *

Himitsu

By

Marie Darkholme

**Chapter Fifteen:** Not Possible

The doors opened into the large darkened room. As usual, it was empty apart from the oval table stretching in its centre with the eleven chairs surrounding it. The steps of the Espada as they made their way into the room echoed through the high ceiling reverberating against the nude walls.

Completely recovered from his last battle, the tallest of the Espada, aside from Yammy, licked his lips in eager anticipation of what was about to happen. His eyes briefly travelled to the empty chair in front of Ulquiorra and he snickered. Having been restricted to his chambers for the past days, he wasn't completely aware of what was happening outside, but as he suspected Grimmjow Jeagerjaques was still in the Living World.

"Interesting." He thought to himself.

"What is?" Aaroniero picked up the comment from his fellow Espada.

Nnoitra placed his hands in the back of his head as he leaned on his chair. Soon the attention of several Espada had shifted to his smirking figure.

"Grimmjow." He replied with a hint of disgust as if its name left a sour flavour on his mouth. "It looks like the scaredy-cat stayed in the Living World after running off with his girlfriend."

Yammy let out a loud guttural laugh as he slammed his fist on the table with no concern whatsoever about ruining it. Fortunately the solid reinforced material stood the pressure. "And you look very worried about him." He snickered. "Didn't he leave you for dead before he deserted? Shouldn't we be raising Grimmjow's rank as an Espada? Seeing as he defeated you."

Nnoitra's eyes narrowed dangerously, his lips tightening together in a thin line. "Maybe you wanna get a feeling of my strength?" he asked, almost rising of his chair to glare at the Decimo Espada.

"You should consider yourself lucky not to have been killed, after going against Aizen-sama's orders." Ulquiorra stated expressionless without as much as a glance towards the slim Espada.

Nnoitra's deathly glare shifted back to the Quarto Espada before sitting back down. Sniggering as if he had just chosen to ignore Ulquiorra's comment not because he was ranked higher than him but because he had chose to, he leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. "I didn't figure you were the type to care for your toys, Ulquiorra. First the Inoue chick...and now, Arisawa, who just happened to be a shitty human as well, falls under your wing..." his grin returned. "Tsk, maybe you are getting soft."

The green eyes of the Quarto Espada made a slow turn to face the grinning black haired arrancar piercing him with a dangerous look but further comments, if there were any about to be made, were stored in place by the timely arrival of no other than Aizen Sousuke, swiftly followed by Kaname and Gin.

The ex-Captain and new ruler of Hueco Mundo could feel the tension in the room. It was to be expected after the most recent developments. After all, the Espada were for obvious reasons not informed of his various plans. At a certain level, not even Gin and Kaname knew of the true intentions beyond each of his moves.

"Dear Espada." he greeted them as he sat down on the chair at the head of the table with his calm demeanour. "I can feel restlessness between you." He stated with an almost soothing voice, as a father serenely scolding his children. "As you may well know, Grimmjow Jeagerjaques and Arisawa Tatsuki are currently in the Living World." He paused as he allowed his words to sink in, even though this was no news to any of the present. "And it is time they return to their home."

A quiet disbelieve could be felt more than heard as most of the Espada inquired themselves the reasons for the sudden retrieval mission. After all, hadn't Grimmjow willingly abandoned Las Noches with Arisawa to the Living world?

"I understand your confusion, my dear Espada. But do not let the circumstances fool you. The attack by Nnoitra, even after I specifically gave orders that Arisawa was not to be harmed, prompted Grimmjow's actions. Knowing her former allies held the better chances for her survival, he sought their help. But now, they are surrounded by shinigami and cannot come back."

His eyes mirrored each one of the Espada. While some remained in silent questioning of what exactly he was planning, others simply did not care. He grinned. It really didn't matter what the Espada thought. They would be loyal to him, since he held the upper hand on all of them, which he did. And in the meantime, he just had to continue placing the right pieces in the most strategic squares of his living chess board.

"So, who are the lucky bastards that are going to travel to Karakura?" Nnoitra voiced his thoughts, his anticipation growing larger as he watched Aizen rest his elbows over the table and grin. His shinigami watch dogs remained silently guarding his rear, Tousen the image of blind obedience and Gin with his enigmatic grin. He had already been planning on making a little journey to the Living World, even if that meant going once more against Aizen's orders. The only thing keeping him was actually the sheer number of shinigami currently populating the place. How could he manage to nicely annihilate Arisawa and Grimmjow with such a crowd? Not only that, he wasn't such a fool as to think he could beat both of them if they decided to join forces, which would probably happen. Now this was the perfect solution. He just had to convince Aizen he was a good asset to bring them back.

xxx

Isshin didn't bother knocking or even announce himself as he slid the entrance doors and literally made himself at home. He was nevertheless careful enough to leave his drenched coat, umbrella and shoes at the entrance. The shop was so quiet that for a second he wondered if it was empty. But as soon as he had thought it, he felt strong bursts of reiatsu coming from downstairs, which meant someone was training in the underground space.

As usual he met Urahara and Yoruichi in the small room with the centre table. And as expected, both his hosts were waiting for him.

"Crazy weather outside, huh?" he joked as he sat down in front of Urahara.

"Indeed." The blond shinigami agreed with a serious face. "It seems like a nice time for me to try my new water-proof gigai."

Yoruichi rolled her eyes before hitting the back of Urahara's head. "Stop fooling around, Kisuke." She glared at Isshin with a clear _get serious or I'll smack you as well_ look on her face. "Any developments?"

The black haired reaper crossed his arms, a doomed look crossing his features. "Yes!" he sighed, closing his eyes as if his next words bared a weight he could not handle. "Ichigo is finally having manly thoughts." He replied with a hint of both proud and sorrow. Yoruichi's eyebrows twitched. "My boy is growing so fast..." he wiped an imaginary tear from his eye.

Urahara nodded in agreement as he took his fan from his sleeve. "Yes, they do grow f-"

Yoruichi's punch stroke the shopkeeper squarely on his lower jaw. This was swiftly followed by another fist directed at Isshin. It took them a few minutes to start feeling their jaws again and therefore be able to correctly articulate. When the tanned shinigami hit, she didn't make a joke out of it. Maybe that would keep the two idiots focused on the really important things at the moment. Although she had to admit, it was a rather nice surprise to know that Ichigo was finally manning up in other areas of his life other than fighting. _Ah, those were sweet times when he would turn as red as a tomato at the merest glance of a female body..._

"You two don't know when to stop." She scolded them sitting back down in her spot and shaking off her own thoughts. Urahara, however, still got a glance at the smile that threatened to cross her tight lips.

"Well, then, Isshin-san, have you got any new data?"

Kurosaki Isshin caressed his injured jaw. That had really hurt. "Afraid not. Aside from what Tatsuki-chan told us when we talked to her the last time, I haven't been able to learn anything new." He replied thoughtfully. "It's clear that she's omitting some details about her transformation. I don't understand why she would, other than the fact that she probably wants to forget all about it. But I don't buy it that she can't remember at all. She's just as bad of a liar as Ichigo is."

"Maybe it's not about just wanting to forget but also not wanting others to know because she's somehow embarrassed or scared about it." Yoruichi intervened. "She strikes me as the type of person that keeps her own problems to herself. She told us every little detail she remembered about Las Noches, the Espada and Aizen and company. She let us in how Ichimaru Gin trained her shinigami skills and Ulquiorra Schiffer her arrancar abilities. But she was awfully vague about what happened between the moment she was taken and the beginning of her training."

"I have to agree with that. Tatsuki-chan and Ichigo have always behaved much alike when it came to their own problems. She did, however, confirm our suspicions that Aizen allowed Ichigo and the others to get out of Hueco Mundo with Orihime about the same time he took her. I don't understand why he threatened her though, he could have just taken her." the black haired shinigami scratched his skin absently. Whatever Aizen did was far from random. There was always a purpose to it. But the mind game he had played with Tatsuki was something he couldn't really explain. Although he had to admit that putting her in a situation where her word would save her friends would make her much more cooperative with whatever they were planning. "I don't really understand the point of making such a deal when it actually gave us more six months to prepare. I doubt that Aizen didn't feel prepared to attack Karakura at that moment."

"And maybe that was the only reason after all."

Two pair of eyes uttered confusion onto Urahara as if he had just told them the sky was actually not blue but green and they were stupid for ever thinking otherwise.

"Kisuke, did I hit you too hard? Because you're not making any sense..." Yoruichi eyed him feeling slightly worried. The dirty blond haired ex-captain had been quiet for quite some time while both she and Isshin discussed their points of view and then, all the sudden, he blurted out that kind of nonsense. She must have really hit him too hard.

Urahara chuckled at his two old friends' reaction. "Let me make myself more explicit. What if Aizen really wanted to give Karakura six months to prepare for the upcoming war? What if he wanted to give us more time to get ready?"

"I'm not following you, Kisuke." Isshin admitted as he rested his elbow on his knee, his face mirroring his confusion.

"What if Aizen to put some subjects to the test and realized they still weren't ready and decided to give them more time?" Kisuke said, sounding more like he was talking to himself instead of his two companions. "All this time, with all the opportunities he had...there's something happening that clearly doesn't make any sense." He exclaimed, for once losing his composure. "I'm starting to think that Aizen is purposely trying to make Ichigo get stronger."

Xxx

The young taichou was dumbstruck by what was happening. How was it possible that he was seeing someone and yet could not feel a thing coming from her? _It isn't possible._ He quickly rephrased it. _It was, but not like this._ Every being in existence has a minimum amount of reiryoku. And as far as he knew, there was no way of completely obscuring someone's reiatsu. And it was simply not possible for that girl not to have any spiritual energy inside her.

Jumping to a nearby roof he tried to get a better view. She had just disappeared from the kitchen, which caused him to lost track of her for a bit before she could be seen again walking in the Kurosaki's Clinic entrance hall. Apparently she was talking with someone on the phone. She looked as normal as any other girl he had ever seen. He tried harder to remember any details about her. A single fact came to his mind. That was the same friend of Kurosaki's that had survived the first Espada attack. _Which means she is far from being a normal human._

The black haired girl suddenly turned around, the phone still in her hand as she watched it with a sorrowed face. Her shoulders sunk forward as she sighed before absentmindedly reaching her hand to her face and touching a scar over her left eye. She appeared to be in deep thoughts when Kurosaki arrived and touched her gently on the shoulder.

Histugaya averted his eyes. The gears inside his brain were turning; trying to piece together what he felt like it could be a very important part of a puzzle. A girl who was spiritually aware was, judging from her clothes and the early hours in the morning, living in Kurosaki's house just a few days after a Garganta had opened and something powerful had come through. Something that Kurosaki had assured he had defeated.

"_What happened?"_

"_Just some low-level hollow…" Kurosaki Ichigo had replied while looking away in a disinterest fashion._

"_I was informed of a Garganta opening and a menos-level hollow, at minimum, coming through it."_

"_Oh! Well, it could have been a menos. I suck at feeling reiatsu anyway, so I don't really know what level it was. But is mustn't been much because it was done for very quickly." Hitsugaya could feel the substitute shinigami was nervous. "Well, I think I'm going back home. I need some rest since I'm planning on going to classes tomorrow."_

And like that, Kurosaki had walked away. Only later while reviewing what had happened did he thought the human's behaviour to be slightly different from usual. Slightly suspicious. But what was he thinking? That girl could not have been the one crossing the Garganta. There was no way she was an arrancar. Even if he could not feel her reiatsu he could at least tell she was human. _Or appeares human._ Then again, she was Kurosaki's friend. When it came to his friends, one should expect the unexpected.

_The barrier._ It suddenly occurred to him that the barrier he felt was not protecting the Kurosaki girls but that black haired human. And it was also blocking her reiatsu. That was the only logical explanation he could come up with. _But how and why?_ Why would they put a barrier around a human to conceal her spiritual power?

He felt a sudden urge to just go "visit" the Kurosaki household. He had plenty of motives to do it being the highest ranked shinigami in charge of their mission in Karakura. But he wasn't sure that would be the best of his options.

A beeping sound was heard and the captain of the tenth squad reached into his hakama to retrieve his Soul Society cell.

"What is it?" he replied to the voice on the other side. "I see." His eyes focused Kurosaki and his friend just as they disappeared from his sight. "Okay. I'm going then, but I've got a job for you."

xxx

"How was it?" Ichigo inquired resting a hand on Tatsuki's shoulder. The girl turned, making his hand drop. Clearly he had just interrupted some deep thoughts.

"Hime is coming." She solemnly replied, her eyes not looking back at him as she put the cell phone back into the pocket of her shorts. Her expression was so serious and deeply troubled that he had a strange sour sensation in the bottom of his stomach. He struggled to find some wise words to share with her, but found none.

Yes, Inoue would feel greatly overwhelmed once she learnt the truth. Until a certain point he could share the feelings of his also orange haired friend. What happened to Tatsuki was a weight over his shoulders but he distrusted that for the naive girl would be even a greater shock. And he felt that Tatsuki wasn't actually aware of some of the reasons for that. He remembered how Inoue had looked at him the first time she had seen his mask; the fear in her eyes had been something that hurt him deeply. He could only wonder how his oldest friend would feel if her best female friend showed her just an inch of the repulse she had shown to him for those brief moments.

"Believe me that it's for the best if you're the one telling her what happened." He tried to soothe Tatsuki. But the girl demeanour didn't change. "C'mon, catching a cold at this moment would not come in handy." He joked as he took her hand.

To his surprise, the girl just closed her fingers around his and allowed herself to be guided back to her room. He couldn't help his cheeks from getting warmer as he led her up the staircase, an image of their younger selves doing something similar crossing his mind. _And yet, it feels different now._ As he glanced behind he was caught off guard to have her staring back at him. Quickly returning his eyes to the floor, he was forced to a halt when she stopped jus at the top of the stairs keeping his hand firmly in place.

Daring a glance behind, Ichigo felt Tatsuki's hand squeezing his tighter, the pulps of her fingers soft against his skin. She was no longer looking at him, instead choosing to stare at her feet. "Tats..." his words lost themselves in the pathway between his brain and his tongue as felt unsure of what he was going to say. He ventured a little closer, not really knowing what was happening. There was definitely something on her mind and _the way she's standing there with that shy look on her face makes her look absolutely cute._

"Ichigo..." she uttered when he reached his other hand to cup her face, shivering at his touch. "I...I..."

Tatsuki looked up into his eyes. Her heart was beating fast and she wasn't sure anymore if it was because of his proximity, his hand on her face or simply because she was nervous. Nervous about the fact that in less than half an hour Orihime would arrive and she would have to tell her best friend what had happened those past six months. Nervous about the way her best friend would react. Nervous about her ambiguous feelings. Nervous about the way Ichigo was looking at her at the moment. Nervous about how close he was and how nice that hand on her cheek felt.

She took a step back, a sudden fearfulness pinching her and making her forget there was no footing behind. Just as she realized her mistake, Ichigo quickly spun her around so her back was suddenly against the wall, his body against hers, the hand that had been on her cheek resting on her waist as he squeezed her palm with his other hand.

The young vizard tried to regain control over himself. His impetuosity that day had been what had caused the weird atmosphere between the two, but as much as he told himself to back off he just couldn't bring his feet to step away from her. There was a tingling electrostatic-like sensation running through his entire body. His breathing was heavy and shallow as he entangled his free hand in Tatsuki's spiked hair. Her eyes had not left him but what he saw in them was so confusing that even though she had not pushed him away, he couldn't tell if she too was feeling the same force that was pulling him to her.

Ichigo closed his eyes for a moment and rested his forehead on the wall right next to her. She could feel his warm breath on her ear. Another shiver crossed her body and for a moment she forgot to breathe. "Ichi-"

His thumb rested on her lower lip, shushing her. "I'm sorry Tatsuki..." He whispered into her ear in a husky voice that pushed her slightly over the edge of self-control before looking her in the eyes. "...but if you want me to stop..." His face was so near hers, Tatsuki felt his overgrown hair brushing against her skin. "...you have to do it now."

He lingered there, his face so close he wondered how long he could bare it before he did something Tatsuki might not want him to. He hadn't realized he was holding his breath until the dark haired girl strongly gripped his shirt and with what sounded like a _what the hell_ kind of sigh her lips clashed into his, sending a wave of relief through him as his hand moved back to entangle itself in her hair, pulling her closer.

Tatsuki hadn't quite thought about what she was doing except for the fact that he was way too close for her to be able to successfully push him back. When he regained control of his surprised lips and started kissing her back, not even her hollow could interrupt the nice, breathtaking electricity running through her body. Mostly that was due to the fact that her mind went completely blank.

Ichigo would have relished on the fact that this time it hadn't been his lack of control leading to that kiss. However, he was in such a state of sensation overload that he simply could not think about anything. Her hands as she strongly pulled him had not left his chest and the warmness in them seemed to transpire through the tissue into his skin. Her hair was soft in his grip. And her lips aroused sensations in him that made him blush in deep embarrassment.

The couple was in such a state of disconnection they neither heard the steps on the stairs nor felt the owner of said feet.

"Ichi-" the surprise of catching them in such a private moment was such that Rukia was left speechless for a few moments as a strong shade of red covered all the visible skin on her face. Quickly turning her back on them, she tried to cough to get their attention.

Tatsuki and Ichigo seemed to realize the presence of another person at the same time, painfully parting their sore lips. It vaguely crossed the vizard's mind that it was a good thing it had been Rukia and not one of the twins catching them like that. His body felt strangely cold as he took a few steps away from his black haired friend and eyed Rukia's back.

"What's up?" he asked nonchalantly, trying to sound as normal as possible.

Feeling that the private moment had ended and it was safe to look, Rukia turned around to face Ichigo's reddened features. "I've just received a notification from Urahara that a Garganta opened."

Tatsuki's eyes widened as she mirrored the petit shinigami, the sudden call for battle overriding her previous embarrassment at just being caught sharing intimate moments with no less than her best male friend, Kurosaki Ichigo.

"Grimmjow?" she asked.

"No." Rukia quickly cleared any doubts. "It was an incoming. But Urahara had no idea how many or their current positions. They appear to be hiding their reiatsu."

A sudden burst in reiatsu had both shinigami and representative shinigami turning their heads in its direction. "But that just now was Grimmjow." Rukia recognized the spirit power of the Espada.

"Time to go." Ichigo stated as he retrieved his shinigami badge and quickly changed to his soul form. "Rukia stay with Tatsuki. The others and I can handle this."

And before he could even hear the protest he knew would come from both girls he was out into the morning rain.

Xxx

_Shit!_ The thought was only momentarily before he rose from his crouched position just a few blocks from Kurosaki's house. He had been hiding there ever since the same bothersome shinigami that had appeared the night he had brought Arisawa from Hueco Mundo had started approaching his spot. That same shinigami seemed to have a rather annoying interest in scouting Kurosaki's house every day. Having being near to it for the past days, it was hard to keep his reiatsu in control all the time. So far he had remained undetected. But that was about to change.

Making a dive down to the still mostly empty morning streets, Grimmjow avoided the attack that blasted a significant portion of the rooftop he had been just seconds before. He flipped in the middle of his flight abruptly changing direction just as another bala crossed his previous path and ended up hitting the pavement several stores below him. He fumed as he recognized the reiatsu beyond the attacks.

"What are you doing Nnoitra?" Zommari questioned the Quinta Espada. The later gave him an insanely wide grin as he prepared to launch yet another sequence of bala.

"Aizen told us to bring them back. He didn't specify in what conditions."

"Well, it was obvious that it was not to bring back their corpses." A sharp child like voice interrupted. "Besides, we have to find the woman and get out of here. I'm not in the mood to fight." Another deeper voice continued.

"I believe it's too late for that, Aaroniero. We've been exposed and there's currently three shiniga-"

The Octava Espada was left in the middle of his sentence as all three of them used sonido to dodge from a large red energy ball. Nnoitra laughed hysterically as he gripped his weapon tighter and dove in the direction from which the Cero had just come. The blades clashed with a shock wave that spread around them.

"I see you managed to come back from the dead." Grimmjow snarled at his opponent as he pushed his sword forward slightly overpowering Nnoitra and making him back a few steps in the air.

"Where is the human bitch?" the black haired Espada grinned shoving his long ranged zanpakutou over his shoulder. "Aizen wants the both of you to go back to Hueco Mundo so I guess your Honeymoon is over."

The Sexta Espada gritted his teeth. _So, it's like Ichimaru Gin said. They really came to get her._ He quickly glanced over to the two other Espada approaching them.

"Grimmjow Jeagerjaques, Aizen-sama has ordered us to retrieve both you and Arisawa Tatsuki back to Hueco Mundo." The black skinned arrancar informed in a colloquial tone of voice as if they hadn't just been attacked by the person he was talking to. "And let us hurry with his. I can feel the fast approach of shinigami."

"Well, then activate the device." Aaroniero said before Grimmjow had time to make the sliest comment about the current situation. Instead, the blue haired Espada raised his eyebrow at the mention of a device.

"We cannot, until we know where Arisawa is. You heard Szayel explaining how it works."

"Fuck that. If he's here" Nnoitra interrupted the discussion between the other two Espada, taking the small thing Zommari was holding while making a gesture towards Grimmjow. "then Arisawa shouldn't be too far." And that said he pushed the single button on the round device and allowed it to slip from his hand into the streets below them.

Just as it was about to hit the floor, the device exploded, sending a flash of soul particles in a radius of several miles around them.

* * *

Hi minna! I've published yet another chapter. So, the action is about to start! What is this device that Szayel created? What is Aizen planning, sending these Espada to get Grimmy and Tats? Does Ichigo really believes Rukia and Tatsuki are going to stay where they are?

Thanks to the reviewers:

**Akatsuki Leader13:** that sort of makes two of us. Not that I had given up on the story. I just couldn't bring myself to restart it. (it's actually more difficult than writing a new one altogether). And on your birthday? That was certainly unexpected. Congrats (with two weeks of delay)! Sorry about the pagebreakers. I use a double space but when I uploaded the file, they were gone. Problem fixed, though ^_^

**TVMaster2000:** hope you enjoyed this chapter. Things are about to get fired up!

**BrazeRancor:** hmm, can't spoil the fic by saying what I have planned so I guess you'll just have to wait and see if satisfy you ^_^

**OinLovesAnime:** well, more IchiTatsu than what just happened and I think I would have to upgrade the rating ^_^ I wasn't actually planning on writing, it just sort of slipped through. Hope you've enjoyed it. As for Grimm and Ulqui, we'll see how this goes. hihi

Until next time!


	16. Released

Disclaimer: wtf was that in the last Bleach chapter with Hime all over Riruka? Ah damn, I don't own Bleach. Kubo Tite does.

* * *

Himitsu

By

Marie Darkholme

**Chapter Sixteen: Released**

Ichigo stopped in his tracks when a sudden burst of light blinded him completely. Standing in a defensive position he covered his eyes behind the black tissue of his shihakusho, but soon realized the light wasn't caused by an attack. Instead he felt a myriad of soul particles as they moved just passed him. When the brightness disappeared he turned his head to look behind where he had felt the reishi gather. Although there was not a visible element, he could still feel an intense energy that spread in a circle behind and around him. As he tried to reach farther, he realized the reishi had actually created a sort of barrier around a vast area of Karakura.

_What the hell is that thing for?_ he inquired as he started moving in the direction of the four arrancar he could now feel very clearly. His thoughts returned from the barrier to the Espada. He knew those three spirit energies all too well. But one of them had his anger boiling inside. The one that had spiked moments before that of the panther. His fist tightened as he recollected Tatsuki's image just a few days before, her body battered and bloody laying on Grimmjow's arms in such a way that anyone would think she was dead.

Fighting those thoughts away, the substitute shinigami became aware to a fast approaching presence behind him and was slightly amazed by who it belonged to. He had expected all of the shinigami to come to fight the Espada. But he had no time to stand around waiting for his fellow shinigami and so he continued, flash stepping closer to the battle field.

"_Kishire_, Pantera." More than hearing the command, Ichigo was able to feel it seconds before he got visual contact with his enemies. The four arrancar were hovering above the city but like he had thought, Grimmjow wasn't joining in with the rest of the Espada. Instead, his resurrection form was standing in front of a grinning Nnoitra ready for battle. _Shit! This really is happening. _He thought as he stood in mid air watching the black haired Espada as the reiatsu around him became thicker and heavier, a yellow glow surrounding him.

"That's the way I like it, Grimmjow Jeagerjaques." The Espada cackled. "Let's play this fucking game. _Inore_, Santa Teresa."

For seconds, Nnoitra was enveloped by the yellow glow of his gathering reiatsu. The sheer amount of spirit pressure around him was enough to have Ichigo widen his eyes. _Tatsuki_ _fought this...this monster?_ _**Makes you wonder what sort of unseen power does she have, huh, King? **_The hollow's comment was for once not a snicker or a laugh, but a serious insight. Yes, Tatsuki had almost died fighting Nnoitra. Still, she had managed to wound him enough so that Grimmjow defeated him. _No wonder Renji had so much trouble with him. And the reiatsu I feel now has nothing to do with that first time._ Apparently Nnoitra had just been playing around with Rukia and Renji. After all he had been given orders not to kill anyone. But by the look of things he wasn't about to _just_ play with the Sexta Espada.

Ichigo's eyes deviated from the tense fight about to unfold just in time for him to reach Zangetsu and block a killer upper blow. As soon as the attack came, his opponent was gone and he could only feel his presence behind him enough to use shunpo to get away from the attack. The two opponents exchanged glances.

"Zommari Leroux, Séptima Espada." the arrancar informed exposing his long zanpakutou in front of him. "And you, shinigami, are Kurosaki Ichigo."

The orange haired teenager remained unfazed. It didn't come as a surprise that the Espada would know his name. _**They should fear it too.**_ The hollow smirked.

"We are here to retrieve Arisawa Tatsuki and Grimmjow Jeagerjaques. We have no quarrel with you. Step aside, shinigami."

Ichigo's expression hardened. "You're not taking anyone with you, Espada. And since you attacked me, it's fair to say I have a quarrel with you." and assessing there was no further talk needed, the orange haired shinigami impetuously charged forward.

Zommari's movement was almost as gracious as it was quick when he blocked Zangestu only to then disappear in a Sonido. An attack from behind didn't go by unnoticed and Ichigo quickly blocked it pushing back the adversary that once again vanished. The shinigami flash stepped to intercept the Espada with a downward cut of his sword, directed at his left shoulder that was skilfully dodged. He had to give it to the Espada: he was fast. According to Ishida's information he had yet to perform his technique Gemelos Sonido, but his current level was already something note worthy. Nevertheless, Ichigo had fought faster and he wasn't even in his bankai form.

A miscalculation had Zommari unable to block an attack that cut through his abdomen. The wound was deep but for the most part unimportant.

"You're skilful, shinigami." The Espada said as he stopped on top of a nearby roof. "And fast. But tell me, do you really believe you will be able to defeat me?" and as he said this, Zommari disappeared.

A new attack came from towards Ichigo's left. But as soon as the substitute shinigami had detected this, he felt another presence from his right. A shunpo took him just a few metres away from the place where the arrancar had just sliced the air with his sword. Before he could move, Zommari was behind him and Ichigo was forced to use Zangetsu to block the attack. As their swords clashed against each other, the orange haired teenager quickly realized Ishida had been right about the Espada's ability. The technique Gemelos Sonido really was impressive.

The pace of the fight was quickly speeding up, but so far, he had been able to avoid the Espada's invests and was quickly matching and adapting to his opponent's speed. There was almost a pattern to his attacks and catching on that, Ichigo raised his zanpakutou to deliver another blow just as the Espada tried to sneak up behind him.

Zommari held his bleeding arm with an expression that showed surprise as he retreated to a nearby roof. His white Tai-Chi like uniform was now torn and his own blood tainted it. Ichigo could feel the barely suppressed anger in the arrancar's reiatsu as he pulled out his zanpakutou in front of him, standing with his feet wide apart and his knees bent while his palms united just in front of his head. Although the pose itself was weird, there was no doubt in the vizard's mind about what was about to happen. He had just managed to piss off the arrancar enough to have him resort his resurrection.

Ichigo watched in a mix of surprise and disgust as the dark-skinned Espada's head twisted his head in a humanly impossible angle when suddenly his pupil dilated almost covering his entire yellow iris.

"_Shizumare_, Brujería!" the Espada cried. Immediately his sword started bending over itself before releasing white thick goo that engulfed the arrancar. As the white mass twitched and changed, the reiatsu around made it impossible for any attacks to be effective. When the transformation was over, the thick goo started dripping down the arrancar to reveal his resurrection. The overall appearance had drastically changed but the vizard couldn't feel that much change in the spiritual power of his adversary that now consisted of a large pink pumpkin like base with what appeared to be eyes mirroring him in each segment. Over this, the arrancar's torso had been covered in white along with his head, leaving only his face showing. The same eye-like things covered his white upper body.

Ichigo stood in defensive position not knowing what to expect. When a slight change occurred in the spiritual pressure coming from the arrancar, the vizard quickly moved away to his right, seeing one of the eyes in the pumpkin structure turn to him. Unexpectedly, nothing happened. He narrowed his eyes. _What the hell? It really felt like he was about to release a cero or something._ He thought to himself.

"You are probably wondering why I haven't attacked you, since you felt the change in my reiatsu." Zommari said as he conceitedly glanced over the shinigami's new position. Ichigo quickly took notice that the eye which had previously looked at him was now glowing purple. "I call this ability Amor. It allows me to steal the sovereignty of whatever my eyes fixate upon."

Just as the arrancar spoke, Ichigo felt his left leg slowly trying to move forward.

"In this case, your left leg."

A sun-shaped mark had appeared over his shihakusho just over his left knee. He tried to concentrate into stopping his leg from moving to no use. Whatever that technique was about, the fact remained he had just lost control of his left leg. _**Tch! Pathetic!**_ He could hear his hollow scolding him, but he could also feel the anger in it. After all, he considered that to be his body as well and there was no way he was going to like someone just taking over parts of him like that.

"Everything holds sovereignty over something else." The Espada started as the substitute shinigami struggled against his moving leg. "Subordinates are at the command of their supervisors, commoners are at the command of their king, the clouds are at the command of the wind, and the light of the moon is at the command of the sun. And with Amor, your leg is now at my command."

Shifting his weight to his right leg and trying not to get off balance, Ichigo flash-stepped as soon as he felt another subtle change in the enemy's spiritual energy. And sure enough, another one of the arrancar's hideous eyes had turned purple. Fortunately the sun shaped symbol had failed to hit him. However if he was to defeat Zommari he needed to get closer to him. But how could he, with that many eyes constantly on the watch? It would take only one miscalculation for the battle to be lost. He had to be faster.

The orange haired vizard reiatsu spiked, the white tissue of his zanpakutou's handle strapping his forearm.

"BANKAI!"

Before the reiatsu wave had settled he had already disappeared from sight, circling the arrancar in a dizzying speed. But it wasn't long before he felt himself forced to slow down. Using shunpo with just one leg while the other one did everything in its power to get you thrown off balance was more difficult than he had expected. Knowing he could not endure that speed in his current predicament, Ichigo brought down his zanpakutou in a descendent blow meant to slash his opponent's thorax and abdomen.

When a bloody cough forced his way out of his throat, it took him a few seconds to realise what had happened. Imbibed in his lower abdomen was the black blade of Zangetsu, his right hand, still clutching the handle, tattooed with a small sun. _Damn it!_ Ichigo thought. With a cry of pain he pushed the sword from his body with his left hand, losing a great amount of blood in the process. Unsteady, he took a step backwards but before he could even counteract the movement of his stray leg, his rogue hand clutched Zangetsu's blade and he lost his footing making a dive from the edge of the roof where he had stopped. In the attempt to avoid any more damage, he pried his blade from his hand, making a deep cut in it in the process. He managed to regain enough control just before he hit the ground to land on his feet.

_This was not fun. _He thought as he gazed upon the piercing wound in his abdomen. He had seen worst, of course, but never by his own blade and somehow, that seemed to worsen his state. Not only that he was now completely unable of moving his left leg and his right arm. _He must have gotten to me right in the moment I was about to hit him. But if it works like that, I don't know how I'll be able to get close to him. Hell, even being in his vision perimeter is dangerous._

Ichigo flash-stepped away just at the right time to avoid a cero, quickly followed by yet another one. _Shit!_ Was the only thought that crossed his mind just as he pulled down his mask and blocked the cero with Zangetsu. The Espada had just blocked his leg at the precise moment he was about to dodge the attack, enabling him to escape. The force of the attack threw him into a clothes store. The alarm went off immediately with a shrieking annoying sound. The orange haired shinigami cursed his luck as he disentangled himself from a long trench coat and a few sweaters just in time to feel the reiatsu concentrating on Zommari's stretched out hand.

"Goodbye shinigami."

"Hadou 39: Enkousen." The pale orange shield took in the strength of the cero that had been meant to finish off the substitute shinigami, giving him enough time to flash-step out of the way.

"Having troubles, Ichigo-kun?"

Xxx

She was nervous in a way she wasn't supposed to be. After all, she was finally going to see her best friend after days of uncertainty impatiently waiting for something to happen. The phone call, however, had been unexpected. After having been told that Tatsuki still hadn't recovered enough from her coma to receive visits, she had been waiting for Kurosaki Isshin to call her like he had said he would. It had never crossed her mind that it would be her best friend to make the call. That had her surprised and slightly worried. And there was also Tatsuki's voice on the phone. The martial artist had tried hard to sound calm and collected but the effect had turned out the exact opposite.

Inoue Orihime tried to push away the intrusive thoughts in her mind as she strolled in a fast pace towards the Kurosaki Clinic. _I don't even know why I'm worried_. She told herself. _I'm sure that everything's alright. Tatsuki-chan was probably nervous because of what happened to her. She might be embarrassed about what happened and afraid I'll say something to her or push her away. But I will never do that. Not again._

The orange haired girl was a few blocks away from her destination when she felt it. The reiatsu that suddenly filled the air was unmistakable. She had been surrounded by that heavy feeling for too long to be able to forget it. The Espada were back and they weren't very far from her current location. In fact, she noticed with growing anxiety, they were very close to Kurosaki's house. A sense of urgency took over and she fastened her pace and started running towards the origin of the strong spiritual power.

When a powerful blinding light blinded her the reaction was almost on an unconscious level. The Shun Shun Rikka Santen Kesshun formed in front of her just as the light was about to make contact. To her surprise the spirit particles that composed what she had thought to be an attack just crossed her shield and harmlessly continued away from her, placing themselves just a few metres behind her back.

Taking a few steps back, Orihime stretched her hand to the invisible force she felt just inches from her fingers. _A barrier._ She could recognize the pattern in the alignment of the spirit particles, just like she had done some time ago when she managed to slip her presence through the vizard Hashigen Ushouda's barrier. However, the one raised in front of her was different. It felt oddly similar to her own Three Sacred Links' Shield, as if it was rejecting something on the outside with no effects whatsoever to the people inside it. What exactly it was supposed to reject she wasn't sure.

Another spike in reiatsu had her forced out of her introspection. She immediately recognized Grimmjow's spiritual energy, closely followed by that of the Espada that Kuchiki and Abarai had fought and had almost killed her two spiritually aware temporary classmates. She found it odd that both of them were apparently releasing their zanpakutou at the same time when she could not feel any shinigami where they were. But that thought was quickly overthrown with concern when she noticed there was in fact a shinigami quickly approaching them alone and that death god was Kurosaki Ichigo.

Forgetting about the barrier, Orihime started running with renewed strength towards her previous destination. She wondered briefly where Rukia was and why she couldn't feel anyone else approaching. _They are probably hiding their reiatsu._ She thought trying to chase away the strange sensation in the pit of her stomach but her mind quickly returned to the substitute shinigami. He had reached the Espada and by the way his spiritual energy was fluttering around, she could tell he was fighting. But he hadn't called forward his Bankai yet.

She was just turning the corner to the street where the Clinic was located when something had her stop in her tracks once more. Kurosaki's house was just a few meters ahead and she could already see the parking spaces in front of it. It was not what she saw but what she felt that had her halt her run. With no warning whatsoever, as if a portal had just opened, she felt a strong reiatsu not unlike those of the Espada, but at the same time, different.

And _that_ reiatsu was coming from _inside_ Kurosaki's house.

Xxx

The two girls eyed each other, an uncomfortable silence falling between them, now that they had carried Ichigo's body over to his room and dumped it over his bed. It wouldn't have hurt him if he had changed to his soul form back in his room, but Rukia distrusted he had been all too eager to get out of her sight after what she had seen. A blush crept to her cheeks as she recalled the heated moment she had witnessed moments before.

It had been apparent for some time that her orange haired companion had somewhat different feelings for the girl standing next to her. She had thought at first, like she guessed most of his friends had, that he was just feeling overly guilty about whatever he had said to her last time they met and how that seemed to have led her to the edge. Getting to know a bit more about this girl, the shinigami just couldn't bring herself to believe Tatsuki could be pushed to that sort of edge. As things went on, she started to think that maybe Ichigo's feelings for that girl were something a little different. Something he probably wasn't aware himself, being as thick as he was towards Orihime's feelings for him.

"Can you sense anything?" Tatsuki asked as she stared out the window, her thoughts clearly on the same person, although for different reasons.

The edginess in her voice didn't go by unnoticed and Rukia knew exactly how she felt.

"It's starting." She said in a simply matter of fact tone. She could feel Ichigo's reiatsu fluttering along with that of an Espada. The strange thing was he was actually the only shinigami there and she could feel the familiar arrancar reiatsu of the third Espada standing by while the other two fought the orange haired shinigami and the arrancar renegade. She thought he had died but apparently she wasn't the only one making a miraculous escape. She vowed to herself that would be the last miraculous escape he would be able to pull off.

Reaching into her pocket, the short shinigami retrieved the small candy container and prepared herself to plop a gikongan into her mouth, when a strong grip on her hand stopped her before she could do it. It shouldn't have come as a surprise the next words that came out of Tatsuki's mouth.

"Help me out too." Her voice was not demanding, but neither was it a plea. It was more like a tactical logical conclusion. "I can help you."

Rukia sighed and Tatsuki immediately realized there was no way in hell the shinigami was going to let her out of the house. She had no idea what was going on outside and that was actually more unnerving than being stranded in her body. There was only one thing she was sure: Ichigo and Grimmjow were fighting, and judging by the look on Ichigo's face just before he left, Nnoitra was out there along with some other Espada. _**The hell with the shinigami! I want to painfully and slowly kill that spoonheaded bastard!**_ The hollow yelled.

"You can't." The shinigami said as she removed her wrist from Tatsuki's grip. The girl was about to protest when she noticed Rukia rubbing her wrist and the red bruise already forming on the shinigami's pale skin. She hadn't realized she had been holding her that strongly. "I know you want to help, but you can't leave the house, remember?" Rukia's voice made her move her eyes from the red mark back to her face. "If you so much as take a step outside this house and the barrier surrounding it, the other shinigami in Karakura will know you're here. After all, your control over your reiatsu is still lacking." She added with a snicker. "If you leave, not even Ichigo will be able to keep them from taking you to Soul Society. Believe me. It's for the best that you stay hidden."

"I refuse to stay hidden while my friends are in danger." The martial artist stated firmly.

Rukia snickered again. Ichigo surely knew how to choose his friends. She couldn't recall ever meeting such a selfless group with such little regard to their own safety, which said a lot about this bunch of humans, since she had met her share of craziness in her hundred years as a soul. Even the Quincy boy had that side to him, no matter how hard he tried to hide it between laughable excuses and his ever present pride.

"Well, they are not in danger." The black haired shinigami assured as she slipped the gikongan into her mouth without giving time for the girl to stop her once more. Her soul plopped from the gigai. "Chappy, don't let her leave this house." she instructed heading to Ichigo's window.

The artificial soul quickly proceeded to grab Tatsuki's arms from behind. "Yes, Rukia-san pyon. I will no-"

"-do shit!"

With a foot already over the edge of the window, Rukia turned to barely catch a glimpse of her gigai flying over the human's head and sprawling against the wall on the other side of the room, sending a bunch of Ichigo's stuff to the floor. Maybe she had underestimated the strength the hybrid would have, even constricted by her human body. She watched the hematoma forming on her wrist. It had managed to affect her soul, even if only at the sliest level. Even with its inhuman strength and speed, Chappy could not guarantee that the girl would stay put.

"Bakudo 4: Hainawa!"

A yellow energy rope formed in Rukia's fingertips and proceeded to tightly envelop its target's arms and body, immobilizing her. A cry of frustration left the human girl as she lost her balance and felt down to the ground with a thud. She glared at the shinigami jumping out of the window and quickly disappearing from sight. Although Rukia didn't look back to see it, she knew there were a pair of deathly eyes piercing her back and that alone was enough to send a cold shiver down her spine. Arisawa Tatsuki had proved more than once that she can be a fearsome human when enraged.

"Rukia! Get back here!" Tatsuki yelled at the retrieving shinigami, knowing perfectly well she was not coming back. She tried to sit down which caused her to move her arms only to have the energy rope close its grip on her. "Damn it!" she cursed resting on her back. She needed to get out of those ropes and then find a way to transform into her soul form.

The short shinigami thought she could fool her, but Tatsuki wasn't that stupid. If there was no danger, Rukia would have stayed back like Ichigo told her to, or she would have followed him immediately when he left. There was no logical reason as to why she had waited until that moment to go after him. Unless, of course, there was something wrong. Not being able to feel anything outside the stupid barrier..._the stupid barrier that kept my ass safe for the last week..._she interjected bitterly, was overly annoying.

"Don't move around, pyon." The artificial soul grabbed her by the shoulders and helped her up. "Rukia-san's kido is very strong. The more you struggle, the more it will bind you."

_**What the fuck does that shinigami bitch thinks she's doing? **_ the hollow cried enraged. _Oh, shut up! Can't you see we have more urgent matters on our hands? Like getting rid of this damned bakudo!_

Tatsuki struggled once again against the yellow energy rope only managing to once more prove how useless it was. Apparently the artificial soul was right, the more she moved, the tighter the rope binding her would get. _**Humph, as if these simple kidou could be enough to restrain me.**_Ignoring the hollow's snicker, she tried to remember if there was any way of breaking a binding spell just as the one that was currently holding her, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized that in her human body it would prove difficult to use any of her techniques. And with Rukia gone and no access to any soul releasing device, she was stuck even if she managed to unbind herself.

"Do not worry pyon. Rukia-san will be back soon and undo the kidou, pyon." Chappy patiently sat down on the floor as if trying to assure her there was no reason for her apprehension. Its eyes slowly scanned the room from one end to the other as if searching for something, in such a way, that even in her current predicament, Tatsuki couldn't help noticing it.

"Are you looking for something?" she asked not really concerning herself with the answer.

"Kon-san is not here?" the artificial soul asked as it scanned the room once more.

It was then that something clicked. Before Rukia substitute had time to even think about what was happening, the black haired hybrid was out the door and with blind anxiety pumping her body she was into the twins' room without thinking about the reactions her situation might have caused. Fortunately the Kurosaki sisters were still down in the kitchen. A quick look around revealed the object she was looking for lying down in the midst of several stuffed toys with different sizes and shapes over a small chest.

Struggling against the rope a bit she finally managed to get her hand over the orange stuffed lion that immediately awoke from his sleep.

"What the-?" a strong pressure over his fluffy abdomen made him spit a round light green pill that the black haired girl quickly grabbed with her other hand.

How the hell had she forgotten about Kon? They had been talking about him in the morning. Apparently Yuzu had been using the stuffed lion as a guinea pig for her sewing experiments the night before, which was probably the reason he hadn't been at the breakfast table.

Tatsuki flipped the pill into the air just as the substitute soul in Rukia's gigai burst through the door. She smirked as she turned around, the stuffed lion limping from her hand, to watch its panicked expression when she swallowed. The effect was immediate and she felt herself being projected forward as if someone had just kicked her butt. The sensation was all in all as if a weight had been lifted. For her amazement, the rope previously binding her human body had now transferred to her soul form.

"Annoying little spell!" she cried as she once again struggled against the bakudo. _**Let's break this damned thing and get out.**_ The hollow interjected.

"What the hell?" Kon looked from his hands down to the visible parts of his bodies. "I'm a freaking girl!" his astonished features mirrored the stranger in front of him and it took him more than a few seconds to realize that stranger in Espada garments was actually the owner of the body he was currently occupying. The same demon girl that had been staying at Ichigo's for a while.

"Shut up, Kon." Tatsuki shouted at the mod soul as she tried to concentrate her reiatsu. The trick to breaking an already cast spell was to override it with your own reiatsu but it had been a while since the last time she had actually done it. "And you better behave in my body, or I promise you a living hell of pain when I get back."

The mod soul gulped and stepped back pulling Rukia's substitute soul with him as he felt the reiatsu building into the young arrancar. So, she had been the strange source of power he had been feeling for the past week or so. Although they had crossed paths more than once, he had failed to notice her pent up energy inside her human body. He remembered her from his first incident in Ichigo's school. She had wanted to literally kill him after he gave her an innocent kiss on the cheek. As he watched her now he could tell she had come a long way from throwing tables.

The surge of reiatsu that left her body felt like taking a long nice stretch after being locked up in a tiny box for a long week. It felt damn good. She felt as the bakudo around her upper body undid and her soul particles touched the barrier around the house. Her pesquisa couldn't get through it and as she forced her way, she felt the structure of the barrier giving in until finally it just shattered and her reiatsu floated around freely.

Even under the current circumstances the black haired hybrid couldn't help a genuine smile from creeping to her lips. She was free again.

* * *

Hello everyone! How was Christmas? I was a bit busy doing University stuff...and yesterday couldn't log in, don't know why ^_^ But here it is! I hope the fight between Ichigo and Zomari was good enough. Knowing who defeated him troubles me when writing somethin different but oh well, I'll try ignoring what happened.

Thank you to all reviewers:

**ClairBear89**: hope you've liked this chapter ^_^

**BrazeRancor**: candy?

: sorry for the delay. Hope you and your friends like it ^_^

BTW, I have to prepare an abstract for the end of January along with several other essays so it would be complicated to write but I'll try to put on at least a chapter ^_^

**HAPPY NEW YEAR**


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